Sesame (Til)
Sow in October, harvest around January
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. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹24,000–₹36,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹9,000–₹22,000 an acre a season
- Suits: Rain is enough
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.
Needs about 300 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 130 mm it can use in a normal year (70 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 31 °C / 23 °C
- Nov 32 °C / 22 °C
- Dec 32 °C / 21 °C
- Jan 32 °C / 20 °C
Soil
Soil for Sesame (Til): 7 out of 10 (okay).
Not in the score: pH.
- 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. We have no pH figures for this place.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 3.1 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹9,800 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹14,050 a quintal, the middle of 5 mandis in your state (latest 12 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹29,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹10,346 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹7,920 2021
- ₹10,360 2022
- ₹15,810 2023
- ₹11,750 2024
- ₹8,730 2025
Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.
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.
-
Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.