Ragi (Finger Millet)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 47 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹15,000–₹22,000
per acre a season, before costs
At typical costs, from a loss of ₹6,000 to a profit of ₹1,000 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 in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.
Needs about 260 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 110 mm it can use in a normal year (30 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 160 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 18–30 °C on average, and survives 8–35 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Oct 30 °C / 23 °C
- Nov 28 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 26 °C / 15 °C
- Jan 27 °C / 15 °C
Soil
Soil for Ragi (Finger Millet): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 3.8 quintals an acre here (district figures).
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹4,886 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹3,500 a quintal, the middle of 42 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹8,000 a season at typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹5,205 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
Prices are usually best in January.
Typical costs are about ₹21,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 6.4 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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Short of nitrogen Your soil is likely short of nitrogen.
Add about a quarter more urea than the usual dose, in two or three splits. A pulse crop in rotation also adds nitrogen.
About 12% of local fields of this crop get it.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 12%
- Muriate of Potash (MOP) 4%
- Calcium Ammonium Nitrate 1%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 1%