Ragi (Finger Millet)

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Aug, harvest in Oct–Dec.

Check it on your land

Season

Kharif

JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

88% of its area. Also grown in rabi.

Ready in

110 days

about 3½ months

Water

300–340 mm

of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)

Grows best at

18–30 °C

0 °C survives 8–35 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 88% of its area

Rabi 12% of its area

Today: kharif harvest

Sow Harvest

JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay

Sow Growing Harvest

The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Davanagere Karnataka

Possible in Davanagere, with effort

Ragi (Finger Millet)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in July, harvest around November

This season's sowing time (June–August) is over.

Grown on 29,462 acres here. Sold at 4 mandis in your district.

₹16,000–₹24,000

per acre a season, before costs

At typical costs, from a loss of ₹5,000 to a profit of ₹3,000 an acre a season

Needs care: Risky: 1 irrigation short
Suits: Ideal temperatures
Suits: Soil 9/10

Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain falls about 1 irrigation (5 cm) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 320 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 290 mm it can use in a normal year, and 160 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 18–30 °C on average, and survives 8–35 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

Jul 28 °C / 21 °C
Aug 28 °C / 21 °C
Sep 28 °C / 21 °C
Oct 29 °C / 21 °C

Soil

Soil for Ragi (Finger Millet): 9 out of 10 (good).

The pH here suits it.
Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
Most fields here are short of iron.

Likes pH 6.0–7.0.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 5.4 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025): about ₹3,668 a quintal at mandis in your district.

This week: about ₹3,316 a quintal, the middle of 3 mandis in your district (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would lose about ₹3,000 a season at typical costs.

Minimum support price: ₹5,205 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):

₹2,020 2021
₹1,770 2022
₹2,670 2023
₹3,100 2024
₹3,350 2025

Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.

Prices are usually best in December.

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

Short of iron Your soil is likely short of iron.

Spray ferrous sulphate, 5 g per litre of water, when young leaves turn yellow.

Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.

What local farmers put on it (share of fields):

Urea 98%
Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 77%
Ammonium Phosphate Sulphate 17%
Muriate of Potash (MOP) 6%

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea

28 kg

DAP

18 kg

MOP

13 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Davanagere

What it needs

Temperature

18–30 °C

best 18–30° 8° 35°

0 °C40 °C

Survives 8–35 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

300–340 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Tumakuru Hassan Mysuru Bengaluru South Mandya

Soil pH

best 6–7

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 5.5 to 8.2.

Soil

Takes a little salt
Ordinary farm soil is fine
N Needs plenty of nitrogen and zinc

How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

With irrigation

Urea nitrogen

42 kg about 1 bag of 45 kg

DAP phosphate

26 kg about half a 50 kg bag

MOP potash

20 kg about half a 50 kg bag

Rain-fed: urea 28 kg, DAP 18 kg, MOP 13 kg an acre

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing, and the urea in two or three doses. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Blast

Disease

Look for

Eye-shaped spots on the leaves; the neck and fingers of the ear turn black.

What to do first

Grow a resistant variety; spray tricyclazole when spots spread. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.
Pink stem borer

Pest

Look for

The central shoot dries in young plants.

What to do first

Destroy stubble after harvest; spray only when damage spreads. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.
Aphids

Pest

Look for

Clusters of small insects on leaves and ears.

What to do first

Spray only if clusters are thick; ask your KVK.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹200

Yield India's average: 6.1 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price this season so far (Oct–Nov 2026): ₹3,500 a quintal
= Income: ₹21,300
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them: −₹21,100
= Left: ₹200

This week ragi (finger millet) sells at about ₹3,500 a quintal: India's middle price at 42 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹200 a season.

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹5,205 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹10,500 a season. Procurement isn't open everywhere: ask at your mandi or agriculture office.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹17,000 to ₹25,500 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month

January, ₹3,750 a quintal

Lowest

June, ₹3,291 a quintal

₹3,750

₹3,291

JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹5,205 a quintal for 2026-27. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Davanagere Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India: 30.6 lakh acres; 2024-25
Average yield: 6.1 quintals an acre (1.5 tonnes a hectare); recent years, to 2024-25
Most area: Tumakuru; Karnataka
Best yield: Erode; 15 quintals an acre

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

Ragi (Finger Millet) yield, quintals an acre (average of 2020-21 to 2024-25 in most districts)

0.9–3.1
3.2–3.9
4.0–4.8
4.9–6.4
6.6–18

No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 2 q 4 q 6 q 8 q

1998-99 2024-25

Latest 6.4 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

0 20 lakh 40 lakh 60 lakh

1998-99 2024-25

Latest 30.6 lakh acres in 2024-25

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Ragi (Finger Millet) yields tend to be higher in districts with

More soil that is alkaline weak 170 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).