Urad (Black Gram)

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

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

74% of its area. Also grown in rabi.
Ready in
80 days
about 2½ months
Water
270–280 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
22–35 °C
0 °C survives 8–40 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 74% of its area
Rabi 22% of its area
Today: rabi sowing time
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?

Water
Season

Pick your place and water to see:

  • Whether Urad (Black Gram) suits your land Good fit, possible or won't work, with the reasons.
  • What it could earn an acre From yields near you and mandi prices.
  • Water and fertiliser it needs Irrigations for your water, and bags for one acre.

What it needs

Temperature

22–35 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 8–40 °C.

Water

270–280 mm over its season

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

Lalitpur Chhatarpur Sagar Damoh Tikamgarh

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes slightly acidic soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 7.5.

Soil

  • Takes a little salt
  • Needs rich soil
  • 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); 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 KVK

For most fields

Urea nitrogen
4 kg less than a quarter of a 45 kg bag
DAP phosphate
35 kg about ¾ of a 50 kg bag
MOP potash
13 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 KVK
  • Yellow mosaic
    Disease

    Look for

    Yellow patches on the leaves; spread by whitefly.

    What to do first

    Grow a resistant variety, pull out sick plants early and control whitefly.

  • Leaf crinkle
    Disease

    Look for

    Leaves grow large, thick and crinkled.

    What to do first

    Use healthy seed and pull out sick plants.

  • Pod borer
    Pest

    Look for

    Holes in pods with caterpillars feeding inside.

    What to do first

    Use pheromone traps and bird perches; spray when caterpillars are many. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
May, ₹6,726 a quintal
Lowest
November, ₹6,150 a quintal
₹6,726
₹6,150
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis. Average of 2021–2025.

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹8,200 a quintal for 2026-27.

Latest prices at mandis near you

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
73.7 lakh acres
2024-25
Average yield
2.9 quintals an acre (0.7 tonnes a hectare)
2024-25
Most area
Lalitpur
Uttar Pradesh
Best yield
Wanaparthy
7.4 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.

29% of India's urad (black gram) area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Lalitpur Uttar Pradesh 4.5% 4.4 lakh acres
  2. 2 Chhatarpur Madhya Pradesh 4.1% 3.9 lakh acres
  3. 3 Sagar Madhya Pradesh 3.5% 3.4 lakh acres
  4. 4 Damoh Madhya Pradesh 3.5% 3.4 lakh acres
  5. 5 Tikamgarh Madhya Pradesh 3.3% 3.1 lakh acres
  6. 6 Krishna Andhra Pradesh 3.2% 3.1 lakh acres
  7. 7 Bundi Rajasthan 2.3% 2.2 lakh acres
  8. 8 Tonk Rajasthan 1.7% 1.6 lakh acres
  9. 9 Panna Madhya Pradesh 1.5% 1.5 lakh acres
  10. 10 Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh 1.5% 1.5 lakh acres

Urad (Black Gram) yield

  1. 0.4–1.7 quintals an acre
  2. 1.8–2.8 quintals an acre
  3. 2.9–3.9 quintals an acre
  4. 4.0–5.0 quintals an acre
  5. 5.1–7.4 quintals an acre
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). 2009-10 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). 2009-10 to 2024-25.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 1 q 2 q 3 q 4 q
2009-10 2024-25
Latest 2.9 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

0 50 lakh 1 crore 1.5 crore
2009-10 2024-25
Latest 73.7 lakh 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). 2009-10 to 2024-25.

Soil and yield

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

Urad (Black Gram) yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil short of zinc weak 503 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).