Sesame (Til)
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 110 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹18,000–₹26,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹3,000–₹12,000 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 290 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 40 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 190 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 33 °C / 23 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 19 °C
- Dec 30 °C / 16 °C
- Jan 31 °C / 17 °C
Soil
Soil for Sesame (Til): 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of boron, 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, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 78% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 78% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹9,712 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹13,700 a quintal, the middle of 3 mandis in your state (latest 12 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹17,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹10,346 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹9,930 2022
- ₹14,150 2023
- ₹12,220 2024
- ₹9,040 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
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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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
-
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.
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.