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
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?

Kottayam Kerala
Water
Season

Good fit in Kottayam

Tur (Arhar)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in June, harvest around December

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

Grown on 58 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.

₹59,000–₹89,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹40,000–₹70,000 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, even in a dry year.

Needs about 570 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,850 mm it can use in a normal year, and 1,570 mm in a dry year.

Heavy rain here can waterlog it. Grow it on raised beds or land that drains well.

Temperature

Grows best at 18–38 °C on average, and survives 10–45 °C.

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

  • Jun 31 °C / 24 °C
  • Jul 30 °C / 24 °C
  • Aug 30 °C / 24 °C
  • Sep 31 °C / 24 °C
  • Oct 31 °C / 24 °C
  • Nov 31 °C / 24 °C
  • Dec 31 °C / 23 °C

Soil

Soil for Tur (Arhar): 9 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: nitrogen.

  • Soil here is often more acidic than it likes.
  • Most fields here are short of boron.

Likes pH 6.0–7.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 6.5 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025–January 2026): about ₹11,325 a quintal across mandis in your state.

This week: about ₹9,531 a quintal, the middle of 101 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹43,000 a season after typical costs.

Minimum support price: ₹8,450 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹9,860 2021
  2. ₹9,730 2022
  3. ₹12,000 2023
  4. ₹13,550 2024
  5. ₹14,500 2025

Prices are usually best in June.

Typical costs are about ₹19,000 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.

  • 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.

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea
5 kg
DAP
44 kg
MOP
17 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Kottayam

What it needs

Temperature

18–38 °C
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

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 ₹9,531 a quintal: India's middle price at 101 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹14,200 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
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–May 2026, Jul–Nov 2026).

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

Latest prices near Kottayam 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.

43% of India's tur (arhar) area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Kalaburagi Karnataka 13% 14.1 lakh acres
  2. 2 Vijayapura Karnataka 11% 11.5 lakh acres
  3. 3 Raichur Karnataka 3.2% 3.5 lakh acres
  4. 4 Yavatmal Maharashtra 2.9% 3.1 lakh acres
  5. 5 Bidar Karnataka 2.9% 3.1 lakh acres
  6. 6 Amravati Maharashtra 2.6% 2.8 lakh acres
  7. 7 Buldhana Maharashtra 2.0% 2.2 lakh acres
  8. 8 Latur Maharashtra 2.0% 2.1 lakh acres
  9. 9 Yadgir Karnataka 1.8% 2.0 lakh acres
  10. 10 Ananthapuramu Andhra Pradesh 1.7% 1.8 lakh acres

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

  1. 0.6–2.6
  2. 2.7–3.2
  3. 3.3–3.9
  4. 4.0–4.8
  5. 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.

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

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.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2000-01 to 2024-25.

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).