Cowpea (Lobia)

Water

Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 210 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 0 mm it can use in a normal year (0 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 150 mm from the monsoon at sowing.

Temperature

Grows best at 25–35 °C on average, and survives 15–40 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

• Nov 29 °C / 15 °C (outside its best range)
• Dec 25 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 23 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 27 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)

Soil

Soil for Cowpea (Lobia): 10 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: nitrogen.

• The pH here suits it.
• Most fields here are short of boron.

Likes pH 5.5–7.5.

Money

Yield: about 2.8 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

On rain alone it gets about 72% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 72% of this yield.

Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹6,386 a quintal across India's mandis.

This week: about ₹8,965 a quintal, the middle of 22 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹8,000 a season after typical costs.

Prices are usually best in November.

Typical costs are about ₹10,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.