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 270 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 140 mm it can use in a normal year (110 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 31 °C / 24 °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.