Urad (Black Gram)
Sow in November, harvest around February
Sowing time is now.
No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 1 irrigation short
- Doesn't suit: Too cold in december
- Suits: Soil 10/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 1 irrigation (5 cm) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 70 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 30 mm it can use in a normal year (10 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 10 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 22–35 °C on average, and survives 8–40 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Nov 11 °C / 1 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 6 °C / -4 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 3 °C / -6 °C (outside its best range)
Nights in November can bring frost while the plants are young. Sow a little later, or cover the seedlings on cold nights.
Soil
Soil for Urad (Black Gram): 10 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
Likes pH 5.5–6.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.9 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
Rain gives it too little of the water it needs, so there's no income figure on rain alone: grow it only with irrigation.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹6,389 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹7,728 a quintal, the middle of 184 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
Minimum support price: ₹8,200 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹5,930 2021
- ₹5,700 2022
- ₹7,310 2023
- ₹8,230 2024
- ₹6,290 2025
Prices are usually best in October.
Typical costs are about ₹14,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.