Cowpea (Lobia)

Water

Rain is enough, even in a dry year.

Needs about 290 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 130 mm it can use in a normal year (90 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 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):

• Oct 31 °C / 23 °C
• Nov 32 °C / 22 °C
• Dec 32 °C / 21 °C
• Jan 32 °C / 20 °C

Soil

Soil for Cowpea (Lobia): 8 out of 10 (good).

• The pH here suits it.
• Low nitrogen matters less: it makes its own.
• Many fields here are short of phosphorus, which it needs a lot.
• Most fields here are short of potassium.
• Most fields here are short of boron.

Likes pH 5.5–7.5.

Money

Yield: about 1.7 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹6,612 a quintal across mandis in your state.

This week: about ₹8,435 a quintal, the middle of 7 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹4,000 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.