Ragi (Finger Millet)
Sow in October, harvest around February
Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.
Grown on 2.5 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
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 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 320 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 50 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 20 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 32 °C / 24 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 21 °C
- Dec 30 °C / 19 °C
- Jan 32 °C / 19 °C
Soil
Soil for Ragi (Finger Millet): 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 5.2 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 ₹3,592 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹3,500 a quintal, the middle of 42 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
Minimum support price: ₹5,205 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹2,260 2021
- ₹2,280 2022
- ₹2,800 2023
- ₹3,300 2024
- ₹3,530 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
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Short of zinc Your soil is likely short of zinc.
Mix 10 kg of zinc sulphate per acre into the soil before sowing. One dose lasts two or three seasons.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.