Cowpea (Lobia)

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Sep–Oct.

Check it on your land
Season
Kharif
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

61% of its area. Also grown in rabi.
Ready in
90 days
about 3 months
Water
280–360 mm
of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)
Grows best at
25–35 °C
0 °C survives 15–40 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 61% of its area
Rabi 38% of its area
Today: rabi sowing time
J J A S O N D J F M A M
Sow Growing Harvest
The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Hoshiarpur Punjab
Water
Season

Good fit in Hoshiarpur

Cowpea (Lobia)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in June, harvest around September

This season's sowing time (June–July) is over.

No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.

₹18,000–₹28,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹9,000–₹18,000 an acre a season

  • Suits: Rain is enough
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Not known: No soil score
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.

Needs about 360 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 410 mm it can use in a normal year, and 340 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

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

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

  • Jun 39 °C / 27 °C
  • Jul 34 °C / 26 °C
  • Aug 33 °C / 25 °C
  • Sep 33 °C / 24 °C

Soil

No soil score here: the soil tests don't say enough about nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium.

Likes pH 5.5–7.5.

Money

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

Mandi price at last season's harvest (September–October 2026): about ₹8,300 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 ₹16,000 a season after typical costs.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹5,510 2021
  2. ₹5,430 2022
  3. ₹6,340 2023
  4. ₹7,030 2024
  5. ₹5,820 2025

Prices are usually best in November.

Typical costs are about ₹9,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.

See every crop that suits Hoshiarpur

What it needs

Temperature

25–35 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 15–40 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

280–360 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Mysuru Salem Dharmapuri Mayurbhanj Kendujhar

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 4 to 8.8.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Ordinary farm soil is fine
  • N Makes its own nitrogen
  • P Needs plenty of phosphorus and sulphur
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra for the dose.

Watch out for

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to watch for.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹13,100

Yield India's average
2.7 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Sep–Oct 2026)
₹8,300 a quintal
= Income
₹22,300
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys
−₹9,200
= Left
₹13,100

This week cowpea (lobia) sells at about ₹8,965 a quintal: India's middle price at 22 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹14,900 a season.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹17,800 to ₹26,700 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
November, ₹9,085 a quintal
Lowest
April, ₹5,924 a quintal
₹5,924
₹9,085
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–May 2026, Jul–Nov 2026).

Latest prices near Hoshiarpur Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
4.1 lakh acres
2022-23
Average yield
2.7 quintals an acre (0.7 tonnes a hectare)
recent years, to 2022-23
Most area
Mysuru
Karnataka
Best yield
Phek
6.0 quintals an acre

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

68% of India's cowpea (lobia) area is in these 10 districts

  1. 1 Mysuru Karnataka 15% 60,032 acres
  2. 2 Salem Tamil Nadu 12% 45,636 acres
  3. 3 Prakasam Andhra Pradesh 8.9% 34,780 acres
  4. 4 Dharmapuri Tamil Nadu 7.7% 30,014 acres
  5. 5 Hassan Karnataka 5.3% 20,577 acres
  6. 6 Krishnagiri Tamil Nadu 5.2% 20,507 acres
  7. 7 Mandya Karnataka 4.5% 17,672 acres
  8. 8 Dindigul Tamil Nadu 3.2% 12,678 acres
  9. 9 Vijayanagara Karnataka 3.1% 11,965 acres
  10. 10 Koppal Karnataka 2.8% 11,048 acres

Cowpea (Lobia) yield, quintals an acre (average of 2018-19 to 2022-23 in most districts)

  1. 0.8–2.0
  2. 2.1–2.9
  3. 3.0
  4. 3.1–3.5
  5. 3.6–9.3
No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

2 q 2.3 q 2.5 q 2.8 q 3 q
2016-17 2022-23
Latest 2.6 quintals an acre in 2022-23

Area sown across India, acres

0 2 lakh 4 lakh 6 lakh
2016-17 2022-23
Latest 4.1 lakh acres in 2022-23

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2016-17 to 2022-23.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Cowpea (Lobia) yields tend to be higher in districts with

  • More soil that is acidic weak 113 districts

Cowpea (Lobia) yields tend to be lower in districts with

  • More soil that is salty weak 110 districts
  • More soil that is neutral weak 113 districts
  • More soil short of boron weak 110 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).