Cowpea (Lobia)

Water

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

Needs about 290 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 200 mm it can use in a normal year (110 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 110 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 / 22 °C
• Nov 30 °C / 21 °C
• Dec 30 °C / 20 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 31 °C / 20 °C

Months in orange are outside its best range.

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 organic carbon.
• Most fields here are short of iron.

Likes pH 5.5–7.5.

Money

Yield: about 1.7 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹6,592 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 ₹5,000 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.