Sesame (Til)
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
No figures for this season in your district. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹15,000–₹22,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹283–₹8,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 260 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 20 mm it can use in a normal year (10 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 20–30 °C on average, and survives 10–40 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 32 °C / 22 °C
- Nov 30 °C / 17 °C
- Dec 29 °C / 13 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 13 °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.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 5.5–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.9 quintals an acre here in its other seasons (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 81% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 81% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹8,028 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹14,000 a quintal, the middle of 88 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹18,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹10,346 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
Prices are usually best in June.
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 1.9 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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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.
About 37% of local fields of this crop get it.
-
Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.
Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.
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):
- Urea 37%
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 21%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 19%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 14%