Pigeon Peas
Pigeon Peas Crop Calendar
Planting, harvest, peak availability and export windows for pigeon peas across the East African origins.
Pigeon pea timing across East Africa is driven by two things: rainfall pattern and variety duration. Most of the volume comes from unimodal-rainfall zones in Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique, where there is one main planting with the rains and one harvest, producing a well-defined mid-year window. Kenya, on a bimodal pattern, works differently and produces two smaller windows.
Variety duration adds the second layer. Long-duration types, which dominate the northern Tanzanian belt, occupy the ground for much of the year and are harvested well after the rains have finished. Short-duration material comes earlier. A single origin can therefore have a harvest window that spans several months rather than a few weeks.
The practical use of a calendar like this is planning, not commitment. It tells a buyer when to open a conversation about new crop, when the widest choice is likely to be available, and when an offer is probably being made from carry-over stock. It does not tell them what is available today.
Reading the export window
The export window shown extends beyond the harvest because pigeon peas store reasonably well and shipment continues from stored crop for months afterwards. That is also why crop year needs to be contracted explicitly: an offer late in the export window may be new crop or may be carry-over, and the two are not commercially equivalent.
Seasonality
Pigeon Peas by origin
Pigeon Peas crop calendar by origin
- Tanzania: Planting December to February. Harvest June to September. Peak availability July to September. Export window July to December. Long-duration varieties in the northern belt are planted with the main rains and harvested from mid-year. Short-duration material can come earlier.
- Malawi: Planting November to December. Harvest June to August. Peak availability July to August. Export window July to November. Single unimodal season, so the window is narrower than in bimodal origins.
- Mozambique: Planting November to January. Harvest June to September. Peak availability July to September. Export window July to November.
- Kenya: Planting March to April and October to November. Harvest January to March and July to August. Peak availability February to March. Export window February to April and August to September. Bimodal rainfall gives two harvests; domestic demand takes a large share of the crop.
- Uganda: Planting March to April and August to September. Harvest July to August and December to January. Peak availability July to August. Export window January to February and August to October.
- Tanzania: Long-duration varieties in the northern belt are planted with the main rains and harvested from mid-year. Short-duration material can come earlier.
- Malawi: Single unimodal season, so the window is narrower than in bimodal origins.
- Kenya: Bimodal rainfall gives two harvests; domestic demand takes a large share of the crop.
Crop timing may vary by region, rainfall patterns and growing season. Windows shown are indicative and should be confirmed against current-season availability before contracting.
Request pigeon peas availability
Send your target origin, specification, quantity, packing, destination port and Incoterm, and we will come back with a position against the current crop.
- Origin
- Specification
- Crop year
- Quantity
- Packing
- Destination port
- Incoterm