Ragi (Finger Millet)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 76 acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 10/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 330 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 30 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 0 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 / 20 °C
- Nov 30 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 30 °C / 16 °C
- Jan 31 °C / 17 °C
Soil
Soil for Ragi (Finger Millet): 10 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: salt.
- The pH here suits it.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 5.9 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
Rain gives it too little of the water it needs, so there's no income figure on rain alone: grow it only with irrigation.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (February–March 2026): about ₹3,500 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹3,408 a quintal, the middle of 34 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
Minimum support price: ₹5,205 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹2,220 2021
- ₹1,990 2022
- ₹2,610 2023
- ₹3,160 2024
- ₹3,350 2025
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
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 100%