Cowpea (Lobia)
Sow in October, harvest around January
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹21,000–₹32,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹11,000–₹22,000 an acre a season
- Suits: Rain is enough
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain is enough, even in a dry year.
Needs about 280 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 / 24 °C
- Nov 32 °C / 23 °C
- Dec 32 °C / 22 °C
- Jan 32 °C / 22 °C
Soil
Soil for Cowpea (Lobia): 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 5.5–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.8 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).
Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹9,600 a quintal across mandis in your state.
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 ₹15,000 a season after typical costs.
- ₹8,100 2021
- ₹8,380 2022
- ₹9,550 2023
- ₹8,350 2024
- ₹6,060 2025
Prices are usually best in January.
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.
How to make it work
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Short of sulphur Your soil is likely short of sulphur.
Use single super phosphate instead of DAP, or add about 100 kg of gypsum per acre before sowing.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.