Sesame (Til)
Sow in November, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
No figures for this season in your district. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹11,000–₹17,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹4,000 to a profit of ₹2,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 1 irrigation short
- Needs care: Cool in December
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 1 irrigation (5 cm) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 240 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 31 °C / 15 °C
- Dec 27 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 25 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 29 °C / 13 °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 here in its other seasons (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 82% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 82% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹8,019 a quintal across mandis in your state.
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 ₹10,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹10,346 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹7,560 2021
- ₹8,930 2022
- ₹11,950 2023
- ₹11,060 2024
- ₹8,440 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 2.2 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
-
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 88% of local fields of this crop get it.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 88%
- Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) 88%
- Urea 88%