Sesame (Til)

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Sep–Oct.

Check it on your land

Season

Kharif

JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

70% of its area. Also grown in summer.

Ready in

90 days

about 3 months

Water

330–360 mm

of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)

Grows best at

20–30 °C

0 °C survives 10–40 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 70% of its area

Summer 25% of its area

Today

Sow Harvest

Harvest Sow

JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay

Sow Growing Harvest

The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Kishanganj Bihar

Good fit in Kishanganj

Sesame (Til)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in June, harvest around September

This season's sowing time (June–July) is over.

Grown on 534 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.

₹35,000–₹53,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹21,000–₹39,000 an acre a season

Suits: Rain is enough
Suits: Ideal temperatures
Suits: Soil 8/10

Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough, even in a dry year.

Needs about 320 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,010 mm it can use in a normal year, and 890 mm in a dry year.

Heavy rain here can waterlog it. Grow it on raised beds or land that drains well.

Temperature

Grows best at 20–30 °C on average, and survives 10–40 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

Jun 33 °C / 26 °C
Jul 33 °C / 27 °C
Aug 33 °C / 27 °C
Sep 33 °C / 26 °C

Soil

Soil for Sesame (Til): 8 out of 10 (good).

The pH here suits it, though not most crops.
Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
Many fields here are short of boron, which it needs a lot.
Most fields here are short of nitrogen.

Likes pH 5.5–7.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 3.5 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (September–October 2026): about ₹12,500 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹14,050 a quintal, the middle of 81 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹35,000 a season after typical costs.

Minimum support price: ₹10,346 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):

₹7,840 2021
₹9,550 2022
₹13,310 2023
₹11,590 2024
₹8,860 2025

Prices are usually best in November.

Typical costs are about ₹15,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.

How to make it work

Short of nitrogen Your soil is likely short of nitrogen.

Add about a quarter more urea than the usual dose, in two or three splits. A pulse crop in rotation also adds nitrogen.

Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea

28 kg

DAP

18 kg

MOP

13 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Kishanganj

What it needs

Temperature

20–30 °C

best 20–30° 10° 40°

0 °C40 °C

Survives 10–40 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

330–360 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Chhatarpur Jhansi Pali Hamirpur Jalaun

Soil pH

best 5.5–7.5

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 8.5.

Soil

No salty soil
Ordinary farm soil is fine
S Needs plenty of sulphur and boron

How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); ICAR-IIOR; FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

For most fields

Urea nitrogen

28 kg about half a 45 kg bag

DAP phosphate

18 kg about ¼ of a 50 kg bag

MOP potash

13 kg about ¼ of a 50 kg bag

Sulphur: 8 kg for one acre, from about 45 kg of gypsum or 65 kg of single super phosphate

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing, and the urea in two or three doses. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Leaf webber and capsule borer

Pest

Look for

Leaves webbed together; holes in the capsules.

What to do first

Sow early; spray when many shoots are webbed. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.
Phyllody

Disease

Look for

Flowers turn into green leafy growths and no capsules form.

What to do first

Pull out sick plants and control leafhoppers.
Stem and root rot

Disease

Look for

Plants wilt and the stem turns black at the base.

What to do first

Treat seed with Trichoderma and rotate crops.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹11,900

Yield India's average: 2.1 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Sep–Oct 2026): ₹12,500 a quintal
= Income: ₹26,500
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them: −₹14,600
= Left: ₹11,900

This week sesame (til) sells at about ₹14,050 a quintal: India's middle price at 81 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹15,200 a season.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹21,200 to ₹31,800 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month

November, ₹14,250 a quintal

Lowest

March, ₹8,147 a quintal

₹8,147

₹14,250

JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹10,346 a quintal for 2026-27. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Kishanganj Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India: 37.1 lakh acres; 2024-25
Average yield: 2.1 quintals an acre (0.5 tonnes a hectare); recent years, to 2024-25
Most area: Chhatarpur; Madhya Pradesh
Best yield: Junagadh; 4.7 quintals an acre

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

Sesame (Til) yield, quintals an acre (average of 2020-21 to 2024-25 in most districts)

0.0–1.0
1.1–1.5
1.6–2.2
2.3–2.9
3.0–5.7

No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

1.3 q 1.5 q 1.8 q 2 q 2.3 q 2.5 q

2001-02 2024-25

Latest 2.3 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

30 lakh 35 lakh 40 lakh 45 lakh 50 lakh 55 lakh

2001-02 2024-25

Latest 37.1 lakh acres in 2024-25

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Sesame (Til) yields tend to be higher in districts with

More soil that is acidic weak 416 districts
More soil high in organic carbon weak 414 districts

Sesame (Til) yields tend to be lower in districts with

More soil low in organic carbon moderate 414 districts
More soil low in nitrogen moderate 358 districts
More soil that is neutral weak 416 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).