Sesame (Til)
Sow in November, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Sold at 2 mandis in your district.
₹9,000–₹14,000
per acre a season, before costs
Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹558–₹5,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
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 270 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 0 mm it can use in a normal year (0 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):
- Nov 32 °C / 14 °C
- Dec 29 °C / 11 °C
- Jan 27 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 31 °C / 12 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Sesame (Til): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
Likes pH 5.5–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.1 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 74% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 74% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹7,688 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹14,558 a quintal, the middle of 30 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹8,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹10,346 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹12,000 2024
- ₹8,940 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 2.1 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 100% of local fields of this crop get it.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 100%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 61%