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
J J A S O N D J F M A M
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?

Dhar Madhya Pradesh
Water
Season

Good fit in Dhar

Soybean

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in June, harvest around September

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

Grown on 7.9 lakh acres here. Sold at 15 mandis in your district.

₹24,000–₹36,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹8,000–₹20,000 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 390 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 500 mm it can use in a normal year, and 360 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 37 °C / 26 °C
  • Jul 31 °C / 24 °C
  • Aug 30 °C / 24 °C
  • Sep 31 °C / 23 °C

Soil

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

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

Likes pH 5.5–6.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 5.0 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (September–October 2026): about ₹6,010 a quintal at mandis in your district.

This week: about ₹7,105 a quintal, the middle of 7 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹19,000 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):
  1. ₹6,260 2021
  2. ₹6,040 2022
  3. ₹4,900 2023
  4. ₹4,400 2024
  5. ₹4,110 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 4.2 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.

  • Short of zinc Your soil is likely short of zinc.

    Mix 10 kg of zinc sulphate per acre into the soil before sowing. One dose lasts two or three seasons.

    Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.

What local farmers put on it (share of fields):

  • Single Super Phosphate (SSP) 60%
  • Urea 46%
  • Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 20%
  • NPK Mixture 14%

Fertiliser for one acre here

DAP
53 kg
MOP
27 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Dhar

What it needs

Temperature

20–33 °C
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

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 ₹6,988 a quintal: India's middle price at 359 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
J F M A M J J A S O N D

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 Dhar 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.

32% of India's soybean area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Ujjain Madhya Pradesh 4.0% 12.6 lakh acres
  2. 2 Latur Maharashtra 3.8% 11.9 lakh acres
  3. 3 Buldhana Maharashtra 3.4% 10.7 lakh acres
  4. 4 Rajgarh Madhya Pradesh 3.4% 10.7 lakh acres
  5. 5 Nanded Maharashtra 3.3% 10.4 lakh acres
  6. 6 Dewas Madhya Pradesh 3.0% 9.5 lakh acres
  7. 7 Vidisha Madhya Pradesh 3.0% 9.4 lakh acres
  8. 8 Dharashiv Maharashtra 2.9% 9.3 lakh acres
  9. 9 Beed Maharashtra 2.6% 8.2 lakh acres
  10. 10 Mandsaur Madhya Pradesh 2.5% 8.0 lakh acres

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

  1. 1.7–3.3
  2. 3.4–4.1
  3. 4.2–4.9
  4. 5.0–5.8
  5. 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.

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.

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.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2016-17 to 2024-25.

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).