অড়হর / তুর (কবুতরমটর): India's long-duration kharif pulse
Tur, arhar or pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is grown on roughly 4.6 million hectares producing about 3.5 million tonnes (DES 2024-25), making it India's second most consumed pulse after chana. Of that consumption — roughly 4.5 million tonnes domestically — India runs a structural shortfall of ~12 lakh tonnes that is plugged via duty-free imports from Mozambique, Tanzania and Myanmar. The 2025-26 MSP is₹8,000/q (PIB 28 May 2025), the highest of any kharif crop, reflecting the political sensitivity of dal prices in urban India.
Tur is structurally different from every other pulse: its 150-200 day duration locks up the field for the entire kharif and well into rabi, making it a poor fit for intensive cropping systems. The traditional Maharashtra-Karnataka pattern is sole-crop tur on Vertisols, or intercrop with cotton/jowar at 6:1 or 8:1 ratio — capturing the nitrogen-fixation benefit while spreading risk. Short-duration ICPL-88039 (120 days) and Pusa-991 (150 days) are opening new geographies — particularly Bihar rice-fallow and UP-Bundelkhand — where the traditional 180-day landrace cannot fit.
State geography of tur
Maharashtra (30%): Vidarbha (Akola, Yavatmal, Amravati, Wardha, Nagpur, Buldhana) is the heart of Indian tur. Mostly intercropped with cotton or jowar at 6:1; sole-crop tur on heavier Vertisols. Yields 7-12 q/ha rainfed. BSMR-736 (Maharashtra Phule), Asha (ICPL-87119) and the hybrid TJT-501 cover most acreage. Latur APMC sets the national tur price benchmark.
Karnataka (22%): Gulbarga (Kalaburagi), Bidar, Yadgir — the tur-bowl of South India. Sole-crop tur on shallow Vertisols. Yields 8-14 q/ha. Kalaburagi tur (locally togari) holds GI registration and commands ₹200-400/q premium for bold golden grain.
Madhya Pradesh (15%): Hoshangabad, Khargone, Khandwa, Indore. Intercrop with soybean on Vertisols; sole-crop tur on lighter laterite.
Telangana + Andhra Pradesh (15% combined): Mahbubnagar, Wanaparthy tur belt. Asha and PRG-176 widely grown.
Uttar Pradesh + Gujarat (13% combined): UP-Bundelkhand (Jhansi, Banda) and Gujarat-Patan, Banaskantha. Pusa-991 short-duration where rabi follow-crop needed.
Varieties — long-duration heritage vs short-duration disruption
BSMR-736 (Phule, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth Rahuri, 2010) is the Maharashtra workhorse — 18 q/ha potential, 180 days, fusarium-wilt resistant.Asha (ICPL-87119) (ICRISAT-IIPR collaboration, 1989, but still in wide use) — 20 q/ha potential, 180 days, sterility-mosaic-resistant. Pusa-991(IARI, 2004) — 16 q/ha, 150 days, fits as a kharif crop with rabi follow-up.TJT-501 (Junagadh, hybrid male-sterile-line based, 2008) — the only commercial hybrid tur, 22 q/ha potential but seed cost (₹350/kg) restricts adoption.ICPL-88039 is the 120-day super-short line transforming Bihar rice-fallow.
Agronomy — long crop, low input, intercrop economics
Tur sowing window is June-15 to July-15 across most of the country, triggered by monsoon establishment. Pure-crop seed rate 15-20 kg/ha at 60 × 20 cm; intercropped with cotton at 6:1 (cotton:tur) ratio, tur seed rate drops to 3-4 kg/ha. Nutrient requirement is modest — 25:50:30 NPK kg/ha — because of N-fixing nodulation. Phosphorus through SSP 250 kg/ha is the main input. Sulphur 25 kg/ha (gypsum) responds in Vertisols. Tur is largely rainfed; supplementary irrigation at flowering and pod-fill (if available) adds 4-5 q/ha. The FAO-56 Kc (0.40 / 1.15 / 0.55) gives a seasonal ETc of ~580 mm for a 180-day crop.
Intercrop with cotton (6:1) or jowar (8:1) is the rational Vidarbha pattern: the tur provides nitrogen and erosion control to the companion crop, while spreading risk. Total intercrop revenue exceeds sole-crop revenue by ~25% in most years, and price risk diversification reduces income variability substantially.
Pest pressure — pod borer + pod fly
Helicoverpa armigera remains the dominant biotic threat — same ecological pressure as in chana but spread over a longer pod-fill window (December-February in Maharashtra). Continuous monitoring via pheromone traps, HaNPV applications and chlorantraniliprole sprays at ETL (1 larva/m row) form the IPM core. Pod fly (Melanagromyza obtusa) attacks at late-pod stage and causes seed-quality discount in mandi — spinosad 45SC at 0.3 ml/L controls. Fusarium wilt (resistant in BSMR-736, ICPL-87119) and sterility mosaic virus (managed via resistant cultivars and eriophyid mite vector control) round out the disease complex.
Cost of cultivation, NAFED PSS and the import policy lever
CACP places tur C2 cost at ~₹6,400-6,800/q (2022-23 crop year). Against MSP ₹8,000/q, C2 margin is ~17-25% — tighter than for chana. NAFED PSS active in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana at MSP. Open mandi prices through December-March in Latur, Akola, Kalaburagi typically range ₹7,000-8,500/q. The duty-free import policy is the dominant price determinant: in October 2024 the government extended duty-free tur imports from Mozambique through 2025-26, capping mandi prices at ₹7,800-8,200/q — at or just above MSP. NAFED procurement in 2024-25 reached ~8 LMT, largest in five years.
A Yavatmal MH farmer growing 2 ha sole-crop BSMR-736 yielding 10 q/ha at ₹8,000/q PSS: gross ₹1,60,000, cash cost ~₹26,000, net cash margin ₹1,34,000 (~₹54,000/acre). On Karnataka-Gulbarga GI-tagged premium grain at ₹8,400/q: ~₹58,000/acre. Intercrop cotton-tur in Vidarbha typically yields ₹65,000-80,000/acre combined revenue — higher and lower-variance than sole-crop cotton on the same land.
Schemes and the self-sufficiency push
NFSM-Pulses provides seed mini-kits, integrated nutrient packages and machinery subsidies. PM-AASHA covers PSS at MSP. Maharashtra's Mahadev Govind Ranade Pulses Mission specifically targets Vidarbha tur expansion. The 2025-26 Union Budget allocated ₹500 crore for a Tur Mission aiming at self-sufficiency by 2029 through (i) area expansion via Bihar/UP rice-fallow with ICPL-88039, (ii) yield improvement via hybrid TJT-501 multiplication, and (iii) FPO-led MSP procurement infrastructure. PM-KISAN, PMFBY (2% kharif premium) and KCC apply standardly.
The 2029 self-sufficiency target
India consumes ~4.5 MT of tur dal annually; domestic production is ~3.5 MT. Closing the gap requires either lifting national yield from 7.6 q/ha to ~10 q/ha (achievable via BSMR-736 + TJT-501 hybrid scale-up + improved IPM), or expanding area by ~1.0 million hectares in Bihar/UP rice-fallow with short-duration ICPL-88039. The 2025-26 government roadmap pursues both. If the import dependency closes, the Vidarbha and Kalaburagi farmer would be the prime beneficiary — and the urban dal consumer would no longer be held hostage to monsoon variability in Mozambique.