Growing Pigeonpea (Tur/Arhar) 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 pigeonpea (tur/arhar) — a Kharif crop — fits, and how to grow it well here.

Is Maharashtra good for growing pigeonpea (tur/arhar)?

When to sow pigeonpea (tur/arhar) in Maharashtra

Sow in Jun–Jul and harvest around Nov–Jan. The crop takes about 150–270 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 Kharif sowing runs pigeonpea (tur/arhar) into the wrong weather at its most sensitive stage.

Where pigeonpea (tur/arhar) actually grows in Maharashtra

Maharashtra is India's largest tur state, with the crop across Marathwada — Latur, Dharashiv, Beed, Nanded, Parbhani, Hingoli and Jalna — and Vidarbha — Akola, Washim, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Amravati, Wardha and Nagpur. It is rainfed on deep black soil, very often intercropped with soybean in Marathwada or with cotton in Vidarbha rather than grown as a sole crop.

Where it is sold: Latur APMC is the biggest tur market in India and its rate is quoted nationally; Akola, Jalna, Nagpur, Amravati, Washim and Hingoli follow it, and Latur's dal-milling cluster buys directly off the yard. The thing that actually moves your price here is not local supply — it is the Centre's tur import and duty decisions, because a duty-free window lands African and Burmese tur in exactly the months your crop reaches Latur.

The local risk to plan for: Tur dies in standing water and Marathwada's flat vertisols do not drain — a heavy September-October spell can take out a standing crop in three days. The price risk is the mirror image: your harvest and the import arrivals hit Latur together, so a good year on the farm can still be a bad year on the receipt.

Best pigeonpea (tur/arhar) varieties for Maharashtra

Grown in Maharashtra:

• BDN-711 — Badnapur/Parbhani-bred, the Marathwada default
• BDN-716 and Godavari — newer Badnapur releases with better wilt tolerance
• BSMR-736 and BSMR-853 — bred specifically for the wilt plus sterility-mosaic combination
• PKV Tara and AKT-8811 — Akola-bred, for the Vidarbha tract
• Asha (ICPL-87119) — where a longer-duration rainfed sole crop suits

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 ₹7,000/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:

• wilt and sterility mosaic together — the reason the Badnapur BSMR/BDN series exists; sterility mosaic leaves you a bushy green plant carrying no pods at all
• Helicoverpa pod borer at flowering, with a hard local resistance history that makes rotating modes of action non-negotiable
• pod fly, which does its damage inside the pod and is invisible until the grain is split — and then the mill docks you for it
• Phytophthora stem blight and plain waterlogging death after a heavy September spell on flat black soil

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 on ridge-and-furrow or broad-bed-and-furrow — tur drowns in three days of standing water and Marathwada's vertisols do not drain on their own
• Track the Latur rate and the Centre's tur import and duty announcements together; an import window can move your price further than your yield does
• Keep the intercrop — tur with soybean in Marathwada or with cotton in Vidarbha spreads the risk, and the tur is what pays for the year when the main crop fails
• Register at a NAFED centre early: in a glut year Latur trades below MSP and procurement is the only floor there is