Growing Chickpea (Gram) in Karnataka

Updated 2026-07-13 · Region guide

Karnataka sits in the Southern Plateau & Hills with semi-arid to sub-humid; large rainfed area and red loam, black soil, laterite. Diverse plateau — a major maize and rainfed-crop state. Here's how chickpea (gram) — a Rabi crop — fits, and how to grow it well here.

Is Karnataka good for growing chickpea (gram)?

When to sow chickpea (gram) in Karnataka

Sow in Oct–Nov and harvest around Feb–Mar. The crop takes about 95–120 days. In Karnataka's semi-arid to sub-humid; large rainfed area, the window matters more than anything else you do: ~700 mm (erratic) rainfall and mixed; much rainfed mean a late Rabi sowing runs chickpea (gram) into the wrong weather at its most sensitive stage.

Where chickpea (gram) actually grows in Karnataka

Chana here is the north-Karnataka Deccan crop — Kalaburagi (Gulbarga), Vijayapura, Bidar, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Bagalkot, Ballari, Dharwad and Gadag. It is sown into deep-to-medium black soil on residual moisture after the kharif fallow with essentially no irrigation, so the whole crop rides on how much water the September-October rain put into the profile.

Where it is sold: Kalaburagi APMC is the reference chana yard, with Vijayapura, Bidar, Yadgir, Raichur, Bagalkot and Gadag behind it. The useful truth here is timing: north-Karnataka chana reaches the mandi in January-February, weeks ahead of the Madhya Pradesh flood in March, and that early window is usually the best price of the season. NAFED centres do open at Kalaburagi, but they fill quickly.

The local risk to plan for: There is no irrigation to fall back on — a weak northeast monsoon in October means a thin profile and a thin crop, and no amount of later management fixes it. Kalaburagi's black soil is also genuinely wilt-sick after decades of chana, which is why the old Annigeri-1 had to be replaced rather than nursed.

Best chickpea (gram) varieties for Karnataka

Grown in Karnataka:

• JG-11 — covers most of the Kalaburagi-Vijayapura belt
• Super Annigeri-1 — the UAS Dharwad wilt-resistant fix for the old Annigeri-1
• Annigeri-1 — the original north-Karnataka desi, still grown despite its wilt problem
• JAKI 9218 — short-duration, for plots where the residual moisture runs short
• KAK-2 / MNK-1 — bold Kabuli for the size and export premium

Confirm the variety is notified for Karnataka — on red loam, black soil, laterite under mixed; much rainfed, a variety bred for a different zone will underperform whatever the seed packet claims. Your Karnataka KVK or agriculture officer holds the current shortlist.

Typical yield & price

Typical yield here is around 5–8 quintal/acre. The government MSP is ₹5,440/quintal; local mandi rates vary, so check YieldAI for today's live Karnataka price.

Common problems in Karnataka

The pests and diseases to scout for:

• fusarium wilt — the reason Annigeri-1 had to be replaced; on Kalaburagi black soil under repeated chana it shows as patches of dead plants
• Helicoverpa pod borer arriving at flowering in December-January
• dry root rot where the profile dries early on the shallower black soil of Vijayapura and Yadgir
• collar rot in the low patches that hold the last of the northeast-monsoon rain

semi-arid to sub-humid; large rainfed area conditions shape which of these bite hardest each season — scout early and act while a problem is small. YieldAI can identify a pest or disease from a photo of your crop.

Key practices

• Sow into residual moisture in late September-October — this belt reaches the mandi in January-February, ahead of Madhya Pradesh, and that early window is the best price you will see all year
• On land with any wilt history, plant Super Annigeri-1 or JG-11 rather than saving seed off an old Annigeri-1 plot
• The crop lives on stored moisture: a compact seedbed and no over-tillage after the kharif fallow is what holds it through to pod-fill
• Kalaburagi APMC is the reference yard and NAFED centres open there — register early through your Raitha Samparka Kendra, because they fill before the peak arrivals