Urad (Black Gram)
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of December.
Grown on 126 acres here. Sold at 2 mandis in your district.
₹26,000–₹38,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹12,000–₹24,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 1 irrigation short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
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 250 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 30 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 190 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):
- Oct 32 °C / 23 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 19 °C
- Dec 30 °C / 16 °C
Soil
Soil for Urad (Black Gram): 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: zinc, iron, copper and 2 more.
- The pH here suits it.
- Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 5.5–6.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 5.1 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
On rain alone it gets about 85% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 85% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹7,400 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹8,375 a quintal, the middle of 5 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹22,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹8,200 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹6,710 2023
- ₹7,620 2024
- ₹6,830 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
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.
How to make it work
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 4.5 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.
Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.
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):
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 90%
- Urea 85%
- Ammonium Phosphate Sulphate / Nitrogen Phosphate 16%
- Urea Ammonium Phosphate 5%