Sesame (Til)
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 15 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
₹8,000–₹12,000
per acre a season, before costs
Likely a loss at typical costs: ₹3,000–₹7,000 an acre a season
- Suits: Rain is enough
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain is enough, even in a dry year.
Needs about 280 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 250 mm it can use in a normal year (170 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 / 24 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 24 °C
- Dec 32 °C / 23 °C
- Jan 32 °C / 23 °C
Soil
Soil for Sesame (Til): 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 5.5–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 1.1 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 ₹8,733 a quintal across India's mandis.
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 ₹1,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹10,346 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹7,840 2021
- ₹9,550 2022
- ₹13,310 2023
- ₹11,590 2024
- ₹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 3.3 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.