Growing Chickpea (Gram) in Maharashtra

Updated 2026-07-13 · Region guide

Maharashtra sits in the Deccan Plateau with semi-arid, rainfed interior + assured western belt and deep black (regur) cotton soil, medium black. Black-soil plateau — the heart of Indian cotton and Nashik onion. Here's how chickpea (gram) — a Rabi crop — fits, and how to grow it well here.

Is Maharashtra good for growing chickpea (gram)?

When to sow chickpea (gram) in Maharashtra

Sow in Oct–Nov and harvest around Feb–Mar. The crop takes about 95–120 days. In Maharashtra's semi-arid, rainfed interior + assured western belt, the window matters more than anything else you do: 600–1000 mm (variable) rainfall and mostly rainfed; pockets of drip mean a late Rabi sowing runs chickpea (gram) into the wrong weather at its most sensitive stage.

Where chickpea (gram) actually grows in Maharashtra

Chana runs through Marathwada and Vidarbha — Latur, Beed, Dharashiv (Osmanabad), Nanded, Parbhani, Jalna, Ahmednagar and Solapur, plus Akola, Buldhana, Washim, Amravati, Yavatmal and Nagpur. It goes in on deep black soil after the kharif soybean or cotton, mostly rainfed on stored moisture with at most one protective irrigation from a well.

Where it is sold: Latur APMC is the pulse price-setter for the state, with Akola, Jalna, Nagpur, Amravati, Solapur and Ahmednagar behind it, and Latur's dal mills buying straight off the yard. Marathwada also carries a real Kabuli chana trade that prices on seed size rather than weight — and NAFED centres registered through the state marketing federation are your only floor when March arrivals push Latur below MSP.

The local risk to plan for: This crop lives on whatever the retreating October rain left in the profile; a short post-monsoon means an empty profile, and then an early-arriving February heat over Marathwada forces the crop to mature before the pods fill. Marathwada is also where chana pod-borer resistance hardened first, so the same spray your father used no longer works here.

Best chickpea (gram) varieties for Maharashtra

Grown in Maharashtra:

• Vijay — the Phule/MPKV Rahuri rainfed workhorse of Marathwada
• Digvijay and Phule Vikram — better where one protective irrigation is available
• BDNG-797 — Parbhani-bred Kabuli, the Marathwada Kabuli standard
• Virat / PKV Kabuli-4 — bold Kabuli grown specifically for the size premium
• JAKI 9218 — short-duration desi for plots where the stored moisture runs out early

Confirm the variety is notified for Maharashtra — on deep black (regur) cotton soil, medium black under mostly rainfed; pockets of drip, a variety bred for a different zone will underperform whatever the seed packet claims. Your Maharashtra KVK or agriculture officer holds the current shortlist.

Typical yield & price

Typical yield here is around 5–9 quintal/acre. The government MSP is ₹5,440/quintal; local mandi rates vary, so check YieldAI for today's live Maharashtra price.

Common problems in Maharashtra

The pests and diseases to scout for:

• Helicoverpa pod borer with a hard local resistance history — rotating modes of action matters more in Marathwada than almost anywhere else in the chana belt
• fusarium wilt on black soil under the cotton-chana and soybean-chana rotations of Vidarbha
• dry root rot when February heat arrives early over Marathwada and the profile empties under a standing crop
• bored grain showing up at the Latur mandi — pod borer's real cost here is the deduction, not the plant count

semi-arid 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 between mid-October and mid-November onto residual moisture; every week late costs pod-fill against the February heat
• If you have a well, hold the one protective irrigation for flowering rather than spending it on early growth — that single watering is what separates a rainfed Marathwada crop from a failed one
• Latur sets the pulse price in this state: watch its arrivals, and register at a NAFED centre before you harvest, not after
• Only grow Kabuli if you can deliver bold, uniform grain — mixed lots get desi money for a Kabuli cost