Skip to content

Finger millet (Ragi / Eleusine coracana) cultivation Photo: Sajal's Gallery · Pexels License · source ↗

Finger millet (Ragi / Eleusine coracana) cultivation

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn.), known as ragi in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, taidalu / chodi in parts of Telugu country, is a short-duration C4 cereal grown on roughly 1 million hectares in India. It is the most important small millet by area and the namesake of the Ragidi wiki. ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad coordinates AICRP on Small Millets, with finger millet as the lead crop.

Key features

  • Mandate institute: ICAR-IIMR Hyderabad; AICRP-SM coordinating unit at UAS Bengaluru.
  • Duration: 100-130 days depending on variety and ecology.
  • Climate: 500-1000 mm rainfall, 18-30 degC; tolerant of erratic monsoon and shallow red soils.
  • Soils: Light red loams, sandy loams and gravelly soils common to the Karnataka maidan and Rayalaseema uplands.
  • Average yield: 1.0-1.5 t/ha rainfed; 2.5-3.5 t/ha under irrigation with improved varieties.

Cultivation

Finger millet is sown in the south-west monsoon (June-August) and harvested October-December. The conventional practice is raised-nursery transplanting at 22.5 x 10 cm with 25-30 day seedlings, but direct line-sowing with seed rate of 8-10 kg/ha is increasingly used. Fertiliser dose under rainfed conditions is 40:20:20 kg NPK/ha; under irrigation it is raised to 60:30:30. Two hand-weedings or one weeding plus a pre-emergence isoproturon spray are standard. The crop is highly responsive to seed treatment with Trichoderma viride against blast.

Improved varieties from ICAR and SAU programmes include GPU-28, GPU-66, GPU-67 (UAS-B), VR-708, VR-847, VR-936 (ANGRAU-Vizianagaram) and ML-365. Many are tolerant to finger blast and have a 110-120 day duration.

Pests and diseases

The most damaging disease is finger millet blast caused by Pyricularia grisea, attacking leaves, neck and fingers — see Finger Millet Blast Pyricularia. Stem borer (Sesamia inferens), pink stem borer and aphids are minor; bird damage is significant at grain-fill on small holdings.

Usage and adoption

Finger millet is a staple food crop in southern Karnataka (Tumkur, Mandya, Bengaluru rural), parts of Tamil Nadu, the Anantapur uplands and Telangana dryland tracts. It is consumed as ragi mudde, ragi sankati, ragi roti and as malted weaning foods. Procurement under Karnataka's MSP-plus support and the Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals has lifted area in recent years — see Millet Mission Anantapur Sri Anna.

See also: Sorghum Jowar Crop, Pearl Millet Bajra Sajja Cultivation, Finger Millet Blast Pyricularia, Millet Mission Anantapur Sri Anna.

Sources

  1. AICRP on Small Millets — Finger Millet. ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad.
  2. AICRP Small Millets Project Coordinating Unit. UAS Bengaluru.
  3. Finger millet — Agritech package of practices. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.