Cowpea
Cowpea is a tropical herbaceous crop that grows best in the 25–35°C range with 500–1500 mm of rain, cropping over a 30–240-day season. Today it is grown mostly in Nigeria, Niger and Burkina Faso.
How it grows
Cowpea grows in pods held above the ground on a bushy plant.
What it’s worth to grow
Farm-gate value = the price farmers are paid per kilogram (FAOSTAT producer prices, median of 48 positive country-year observations spanning 2018–2024). It tracks how costly and labour-intensive a crop is to grow — almonds and vanilla command a premium; potatoes and cereals are cheap staples.
Where Earth's climate suits cowpea
Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).
Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it
The climate where it grows
— mean monthly temperature ▍ monthly rainfall — averaged over the actual growing areas (the suitable cells) inside each country, so it reflects where the crop is really grown, not the national average. AgroClim 1991–2025 normals. The 🌧 badge is the last 3 months’ rainfall as a percentage of the 1991–2020 CHIRPS normal (through 2025-12) — the current drought/deluge signal.
Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop
Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±40° · soil pH 4–8.8.
Growing calendar & hazards
An annual cycle of roughly 30–240 days from sowing to harvest, so it is timed to fall within the frost-free, adequately-wet part of the year for the location.
- Cold & frost. A frost-sensitive crop: temperatures near or below freezing damage or kill it, so it is confined to frost-free seasons and warm climates.
- Drought. Relatively drought-hardy, but a failed rainy season still cuts yield sharply where irrigation is absent.