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
J J A S O N D J F M A M
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?

Ganjam Odisha
Water
Season

Possible in Ganjam, with effort

Sesame (Til)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in July, harvest around October

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

Grown on 7.4 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.

₹9,000–₹13,000

per acre a season, before costs

Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹2,000–₹6,000 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 280 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 490 mm it can use in a normal year, and 410 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):

  • Jul 31 °C / 25 °C
  • Aug 31 °C / 25 °C
  • Sep 31 °C / 25 °C
  • Oct 31 °C / 23 °C

Soil

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

  • The pH here suits it.
  • 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 zinc.

Likes pH 5.5–7.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 0.8 quintals an acre here (district figures).

Mandi price at this season's harvest so far (October–November 2026): about ₹14,000 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 lose about ₹4,000 a season at typical costs.

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

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹7,840 2021
  2. ₹9,550 2022
  3. ₹13,310 2023
  4. ₹11,590 2024
  5. ₹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

The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 1.7 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.

  • Short of zinc Your soil is likely short of zinc.

    Mix 10 kg of zinc sulphate per acre into the soil before sowing. One dose lasts two or three seasons.

    Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.

What local farmers put on it (share of fields):

  • Muriate of Potash (MOP) 32%
  • Urea 31%
  • Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 8%
  • Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 3%

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 Ganjam

What it needs

Temperature

20–30 °C
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

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
J F M A M J J A S O N D

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 Ganjam 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.

37% of India's sesame (til) area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Chhatarpur Madhya Pradesh 7.7% 3.1 lakh acres
  2. 2 Jhansi Uttar Pradesh 5.5% 2.2 lakh acres
  3. 3 Paschim Medinipur West Bengal 4.1% 1.6 lakh acres
  4. 4 Pali Rajasthan 4.1% 1.6 lakh acres
  5. 5 Hamirpur Uttar Pradesh 2.8% 1.1 lakh acres
  6. 6 Jalaun Uttar Pradesh 2.7% 1.1 lakh acres
  7. 7 Kachchh Gujarat 2.7% 1.1 lakh acres
  8. 8 Hooghly West Bengal 2.4% 94,404 acres
  9. 9 Mahoba Uttar Pradesh 2.3% 91,612 acres
  10. 10 Surendranagar Gujarat 2.3% 91,322 acres

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

  1. 0.0–1.0
  2. 1.1–1.5
  3. 1.6–2.2
  4. 2.3–2.9
  5. 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.

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.

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.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2001-02 to 2024-25.

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).