Red gram is an important pulse crop in India, occupying about 25 per cent of total cropped area in Gulbarga district of Karnataka state. It is also known as Pigeon pea, Arhar and Tur. Red gram is mainly cultivated and consumed in developing countries of the world. India is the largest producer and consumer of Red gram in the world. Maharashtra is the largest producer of Red gram accounting for nearly 33.49 percent of the total production followed by Uttar Pradesh (19.73 percent), Madhya Pradesh (12.18 percent), Andhra Pradesh (8.17 percent), Gujarat (8.13 percent) and Karnataka (6.34 percent). Against a target of 3.65 lakh hectares of land fixed for red gram crop in Gulbarga district this year, farmers had taken up sowing on 3, 64,768 hectares in the district; last year, the coverage was 3.32 lakh hectares. The market prices for red gram increased sharply from January 2007 to mid 2009 due to supply constraints. Prices declined during 2010-11 due to marginal increase in the production. The similar trend was noticed during 2011-12.  The Government of India has announced MSP of Rs.3200 per quintal for the year 2012-13. 

Kharif grown Tur is steadily entering into market of North Karnataka. Uncertain prices at harvest have made the farmers to think about the time and place of selling the produce. Under such situation, to help the farmers to take right decision regarding place and time of sale of the commodity, the prices of Tur that would prevail in major market of north Karnataka have been predicted by the Domestic and Export Market Intelligence Cell, Department of Agribusiness Management, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.

On the basis of the forecast prices of Tur by using 20 years monthly price data and further by keeping in view of valuable suggestions of traders, agricultural scientists and progressive farmers and the price predicted by the NCDEX for the coming months,  the prices of Tur is expected to hover per quintal around Rs. 4400-4900 in the month of December (2012), Rs. 4700-5200 in the month of January, Rs.4800-4900 in the month of February and Rs.4500-5000 in the month of March, 2013 in Sedam regulated market. The minimum support price announced by government for the crop for this year is Rs.3200 per quintal. So, farmers advised to sell their produce in the month of January to get better price. Farmers are suggested to bring dried, cleaned and bold grains to markets, since they fetch higher prices. So, farmers are advised to keep these points in their mind while preparing the produce it for the market.