Soybean

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Sep–Oct.

Check it on your land

Season

Kharif

JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

100% of its area.

Ready in

100 days

about 3½ months

Water

390–410 mm

of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)

Grows best at

20–33 °C

0 °C survives 10–38 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 100% of its area

Today

Sow Harvest

JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay

Sow Growing Harvest

The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Kullu Himachal Pradesh

Good fit in Kullu

Soybean

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in June, harvest around September

This season's sowing time (June–July) is over.

Grown on 7.4 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.

₹14,000–₹22,000

per acre a season, before costs

At typical costs, from a loss of ₹2,000 to a profit of ₹5,000 an acre a season

Suits: Rain is enough
Suits: Ideal temperatures
Suits: Soil 9/10

Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.

Needs about 340 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 310 mm it can use in a normal year, and 200 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 20–33 °C on average, and survives 10–38 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

Jun 28 °C / 16 °C
Jul 25 °C / 18 °C
Aug 24 °C / 17 °C
Sep 24 °C / 16 °C

Soil

Soil for Soybean: 9 out of 10 (good).

The pH here suits it.
Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.

Likes pH 5.5–6.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 3.0 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (September–October 2026): about ₹6,078 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹7,000 a quintal, the middle of 364 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹4,000 a season after typical costs.

Minimum support price: ₹5,708 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):

₹6,140 2021
₹5,950 2022
₹4,790 2023
₹4,290 2024
₹4,130 2025

Prices are usually best in July.

Typical costs are about ₹16,000 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 4.4 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.

Fertiliser for one acre here

DAP

53 kg

MOP

27 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Kullu

What it needs

Temperature

20–33 °C

best 20–33° 10° 38°

0 °C40 °C

Survives 10–38 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

390–410 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Ujjain Latur Rajgarh Buldhana Nanded

Soil pH

best 5.5–6.5

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes slightly acidic soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 8.4.

Soil

Takes a little salt
Needs rich soil
N Makes its own nitrogen
S Needs plenty of sulphur and boron

How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

For most fields

DAP phosphate

53 kg about 1 bag of 50 kg

MOP potash

27 kg about half a 50 kg bag

Sulphur: 8 kg for one acre, from about 45 kg of gypsum or 65 kg of single super phosphate

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing; it needs no urea. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Girdle beetle

Pest

Look for

Leaves and branches wilt above two rings cut around the stem.

What to do first

Pull out wilting plants with the grub inside and don't sow too thick. Spray only if many plants are hit; ask your KVK.
Leaf-eating caterpillars

Pest

Look for

Leaves eaten into holes or down to the veins.

What to do first

Use pheromone and light traps; spray when caterpillars are many. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.
Yellow mosaic

Disease

Look for

Bright yellow patches on the leaves; spread by whitefly.

What to do first

Grow a resistant variety, pull out the first sick plants and control whitefly.
Rust

Disease

Look for

Small brown powdery spots under the leaves; leaves fall early.

What to do first

Sow on time; spray hexaconazole or propiconazole when it first appears. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹9,900

Yield India's average: 4.3 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Sep–Oct 2026): ₹6,078 a quintal
= Income: ₹26,300
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them: −₹16,400
= Left: ₹9,900

This week soybean sells at about ₹7,000 a quintal: India's middle price at 364 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹13,800 a season.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹21,000 to ₹31,500 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month

July, ₹6,800 a quintal

Lowest

December, ₹4,262 a quintal

₹6,800

₹4,262

JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹5,708 a quintal for 2026-27. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Kullu Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India: 3.1 crore acres; 2024-25
Average yield: 4.3 quintals an acre (1.1 tonnes a hectare); recent years, to 2024-25
Most area: Ujjain; Madhya Pradesh
Best yield: Pune; 9.1 quintals an acre

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

Soybean yield, quintals an acre (average of 2020-21 to 2024-25 in most districts)

1.7–3.3
3.4–4.1
4.2–4.9
5.0–5.8
5.9–20

No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

3 q 3.5 q 4 q 4.5 q 5 q

2016-17 2024-25

Latest 4.8 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

2.4 crore 2.6 crore 2.8 crore 3 crore 3.2 crore

2016-17 2024-25

Latest 3.1 crore acres in 2024-25

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Soybean yields tend to be lower in districts with

More soil that is neutral weak 223 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).