Tur (Arhar)

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Dec–Jan.

Check it on your land

Season

Kharif

JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

100% of its area.

Ready in

180 days

about 6 months

Water

630–650 mm

of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)

Grows best at

18–38 °C

0 °C survives 10–45 °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?

Namchi Sikkim

We don't judge Tur (Arhar) for that season. Pick another season.

What it needs

Temperature

18–38 °C

best 18–38° 10° 45°

0 °C40 °C

Survives 10–45 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

630–650 mm over its season

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

Kalaburagi Vijayapura Raichur Yavatmal Bidar

Soil pH

best 6–7.5

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 8.5.

Soil

No salty soil
Ordinary farm soil is fine
N Makes its own nitrogen
P Needs plenty of phosphorus and sulphur

How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); ICAR-IIPR; 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

Urea nitrogen

5 kg less than a quarter of a 45 kg bag

DAP phosphate

44 kg about 1 bag of 50 kg

MOP potash

17 kg about ¼ of 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, and the urea in two or three doses. 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

Pod borer

Pest

Look for

Holes in pods with green caterpillars half inside.

What to do first

Use bird perches and pheromone traps; spray neem or NPV early, a chemical spray only when caterpillars are many. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.
Pod fly

Pest

Look for

Pods look fine outside but the grains inside are eaten; tiny holes in the pod wall.

What to do first

Spray at pod formation as your KVK advises; grow a tolerant variety.
Wilt

Disease

Look for

Plants wilt and dry at flowering; brown streaks inside the stem.

What to do first

Grow a resistant variety, rotate with sorghum and treat seed with Trichoderma.
Sterility mosaic

Disease

Look for

Light green mottled leaves; bushy plants with no flowers.

What to do first

Grow a resistant variety and pull out sick plants; it is spread by mites.

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

₹3,600

Yield India's average: 3.5 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Dec 2025–Jan 2026): ₹6,500 a quintal
= Income: ₹22,800
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them: −₹19,200
= Left: ₹3,600

This week tur (arhar) sells at about ₹9,500 a quintal: India's middle price at 114 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹14,100 a season.

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹8,450 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹10,400 a season. Procurement isn't open everywhere: ask at your mandi or agriculture office.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹18,200 to ₹27,300 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month

November, ₹9,400 a quintal

Lowest

December, ₹6,200 a quintal

₹9,400

₹6,200

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–May 2026, Jul–Nov 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹8,450 a quintal for 2026-27. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Namchi Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India: 1.0 crore acres; 2024-25
Average yield: 3.5 quintals an acre (0.9 tonnes a hectare); recent years, to 2024-25
Most area: Kalaburagi; Karnataka
Best yield: Purbi Champaran; 8.7 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.

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

0.6–2.6
2.7–3.2
3.3–3.9
4.0–4.8
4.9–9.0

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

0 2 q 4 q 6 q

2000-01 2024-25

Latest 3.3 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

60 lakh 80 lakh 1 crore 1.2 crore 1.4 crore

2000-01 2024-25

Latest 1.0 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.

Tur (Arhar) yields tend to be lower in districts with

More soil that is acidic weak 430 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).