Growing Sesame (Til) in Uttar Pradesh

Updated 2026-07-13 · Region guide

Uttar Pradesh sits in the Upper Gangetic Plains with sub-humid, hot summers and fertile alluvium. India's largest sugarcane state, on deep Gangetic alluvium. Here's how sesame (til) — a Kharif & summer crop — fits, and how to grow it well here.

Is Uttar Pradesh good for growing sesame (til)?

When to sow sesame (til) in Uttar Pradesh

Sow in Kharif Jul and harvest around Sep–Oct. The crop takes about 80–95 days. In Uttar Pradesh's sub-humid, hot summers, the window matters more than anything else you do: ~800 mm rainfall and canal + tubewell mean a late Kharif & summer sowing runs sesame (til) into the wrong weather at its most sensitive stage.

Where sesame (til) actually grows in Uttar Pradesh

Sesame concentrates in UP's Bundelkhand — Jhansi, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Banda, Mahoba, Lalitpur and Chitrakoot — plus Hardoi, Sitapur, Kanpur Dehat, Fatehpur and Unnao in the central plain. In Bundelkhand it is rainfed kharif on shallow, stony, marginal land that gets no irrigation and very little investment.

Where it is sold: Jhansi, Orai (Jalaun), Banda, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Kanpur and Hardoi are the yards, with Kanpur the big oilseed trading centre; from there the seed generally travels to Gujarat for hulling and export. Sesame carries the highest MSP of any kharif crop (₹10,346/quintal for 2026-27) and almost no UP grower ever sees it — plan on the mandi rate.

The local risk to plan for: Bundelkhand's own problem sits on top of the weather: free-roaming stray cattle (anna pratha) and nilgai will walk through an unfenced sesame plot and finish it, and sesame is exactly the low-value, marginal-land crop nobody bothers to fence. A monsoon break at flowering does the rest.

Best sesame (til) varieties for Uttar Pradesh

Grown in Uttar Pradesh:

• Shekhar / SH-446 (CSAUA&T Kanpur; ~80–85 days)
• Pragati (white-seeded, good disease resistance)
• Tarun (~90–95 days, highest oil of the Kanpur set)
• T-4 and T-78 (the old Kanpur Type series)
• TKG-55

Confirm the variety is notified for Uttar Pradesh — on fertile alluvium under canal + tubewell, a variety bred for a different zone will underperform whatever the seed packet claims. Your Uttar Pradesh KVK or agriculture officer holds the current shortlist.

Typical yield & price

Typical yield here is around 2–4 quintal/acre. The government MSP is ₹8,635/quintal; local mandi rates vary, so check YieldAI for today's live Uttar Pradesh price.

Common problems in Uttar Pradesh

The pests and diseases to scout for:

• phyllody spread by jassids — pull the plants, don't spray them
• leaf webber / capsule borer
• Macrophomina root and stem rot on hot, shallow Bundelkhand soil
• stray cattle and nilgai — a genuine pest here, not a footnote

sub-humid 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

• Fence or guard the plot, or sow it in one block with your neighbours — in Bundelkhand stray cattle and nilgai take more sesame than any insect
• Use the Kanpur-bred varieties (Shekhar, Pragati, Tarun) matched to your sowing date rather than whatever the shop is pushing
• Sow on ridges or across the slope — sesame survives drought but not a day of standing water
• Harvest at capsule yellowing and stook it; ripe sesame left standing shatters