Wheat

A winter crop. Sow in Nov–Dec, harvest in Mar–Apr.

Check it on your land
Season
Rabi
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

100% of its area.
Ready in
130 days
about 4½ months
Water
360–490 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
15–25 °C
0 °C survives 5–27 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Rabi 100% 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?

Lahaul And Spiti Himachal Pradesh
Water
Season

Possible in Lahaul And Spiti, with effort

Wheat

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in April, harvest around September

This season's sowing time (April–May) is over.

Grown on 182 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.

Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on

  • Needs care: Risky: 6 irrigations short
  • Needs care: Cool in April
  • Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain falls about 6 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 510 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 250 mm it can use in a normal year, and 160 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 15–25 °C on average, and survives 5–27 °C.

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

  • Apr 12 °C / 3 °C (outside its best range)
  • May 18 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jun 22 °C / 10 °C
  • Jul 22 °C / 12 °C
  • Aug 21 °C / 11 °C
  • Sep 19 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

Soil for Wheat: 8 out of 10 (good).

  • The pH here suits it.
  • Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.

Likes pH 6.0–8.0.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 8.4 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 (September–October 2026): about ₹2,625 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹2,724 a quintal, the middle of 497 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).

Minimum support price: ₹2,610 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹1,820 2021
  2. ₹2,060 2022
  3. ₹2,330 2023
  4. ₹2,480 2024
  5. ₹2,530 2025

Prices are usually best in November.

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

  • Short of nitrogen Your soil is likely short of nitrogen.

    Add about a quarter more urea than the usual dose, in two or three splits. A pulse crop in rotation also adds nitrogen.

    About 75% of local fields of this crop get it.

What local farmers put on it (share of fields):

  • Urea 75%
  • Muriate of Potash (MOP) 22%
  • Calcium Ammonium Nitrate 21%
  • Nitro Phosphate Potash 20%
See every crop that suits Lahaul And Spiti

What it needs

Temperature

15–25 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 5–27 °C.

Water

360–490 mm over its season

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

Ujjain Dhar Rajgarh Hardoi Vidisha

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 5.5 to 8.8.

Soil

  • Takes a little salt
  • Needs rich soil
  • N Needs plenty of nitrogen and zinc
How the soil score works

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

For most fields, rabi

Urea nitrogen
85 kg about 2 bags of 45 kg
DAP phosphate
53 kg about 1 bag of 50 kg
MOP potash
20 kg about half a 50 kg bag

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.

ICAR has worked out the dose for 436 districts. Check it on your land above to see yours.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra
  • Yellow rust
    Disease

    Look for

    Yellow powdery stripes on leaves that rub off on your fingers; common in cool, moist weather in north India.

    What to do first

    Sow a resistant variety. At the first patches, spray propiconazole or tebuconazole. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Brown rust
    Disease

    Look for

    Small orange-brown powdery spots scattered over the leaves.

    What to do first

    Sow a resistant variety; spray propiconazole when spots appear. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Loose smut
    Disease

    Look for

    At heading, ears turn into black powder instead of grain.

    What to do first

    Sow certified seed treated with carboxin or tebuconazole; pull out smutted ears before the powder spreads. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Termites
    Pest

    Look for

    Plants wilt and dry in patches; roots eaten; worse on light, dry soil.

    What to do first

    Use only well-rotted manure, treat the seed as your KVK advises and irrigate on time.

  • Aphids
    Pest

    Look for

    Small green insects in clusters on leaves and ears; leaves turn sticky.

    What to do first

    Usually not worth spraying. If they are thick on the ears, spray imidacloprid or thiamethoxam. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

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

₹16,400

Yield India's average
14.7 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Mar–Apr 2026)
₹2,377 a quintal
= Income
₹35,000
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them
−₹18,600
= Left
₹16,400

This week wheat sells at about ₹2,724 a quintal: India's middle price at 497 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹21,500 a season.

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹2,610 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹19,800 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: ₹28,000 to ₹42,000 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
November, ₹2,785 a quintal
Lowest
March, ₹2,350 a quintal
₹2,350
₹2,785
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–Nov 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹2,610 a quintal for 2027-28. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Lahaul And Spiti Today's price across India

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

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
8.1 crore acres
2024-25
Average yield
14.7 quintals an acre (3.6 tonnes a hectare)
recent years, to 2024-25
Most area
Ujjain
Madhya Pradesh
Best yield
Sangrur
21 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.

9.2% of India's wheat area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Ujjain Madhya Pradesh 1.2% 9.8 lakh acres
  2. 2 Dhar Madhya Pradesh 1.0% 8.3 lakh acres
  3. 3 Rajgarh Madhya Pradesh 0.9% 7.8 lakh acres
  4. 4 Hardoi Uttar Pradesh 0.9% 7.7 lakh acres
  5. 5 Vidisha Madhya Pradesh 0.9% 7.6 lakh acres
  6. 6 Sehore Madhya Pradesh 0.9% 7.6 lakh acres
  7. 7 Sagar Madhya Pradesh 0.9% 7.6 lakh acres
  8. 8 Dewas Madhya Pradesh 0.8% 6.9 lakh acres
  9. 9 Chhindwara Madhya Pradesh 0.8% 6.8 lakh acres
  10. 10 Chhatarpur Madhya Pradesh 0.8% 6.8 lakh acres

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

  1. 2.5–7.6
  2. 7.7–10
  3. 11–13
  4. 14–16
  5. 17–21
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

10 q 12 q 14 q 16 q
1998-99 2024-25
Latest 15 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

6 crore 7 crore 8 crore 9 crore
1998-99 2024-25
Latest 8.1 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). 1998-99 to 2024-25.

Soil and yield

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

Wheat yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil that is neutral weak 478 districts

Wheat yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil that is acidic moderate 478 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).