Exploring the Cultivation of Ragi Crop: Top Producing States in India

Table of Contents

• Introduction to Finger Millet
• Ragi Cultivation in India

• • Soil and Climate
  • Land Preparation
  • Sowing and Seed Rates
  • Inter Cropping and Crop Rotation
  • Pest Management and Weed Control
  • Irrigation Management
  • Harvesting

• Top 5 Ragi Producing States in India 2023-24

Introduction to Finger Millet

Finger millet is a gluten-free cereal crop with a low-fat content widely used in Indian diets. It is usually used for making flatbreads, cookies, soups, and malts. It has recently been used in finger millet balls, nutribars, pasta, vermicelli, and millet snacks. It is known for its exceptional nutritional value and fulfils the dietary requirements of many people in India. It is rich in fibre and helps with constipation, heart disease, high blood pressure, and other health issues. In India, it is cultivated over an area of 10.37 lakh hectares in 2023-24. As per Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), the total millet (ragi) production in India in 2023-24 was 13.86 lakh tonnes. India's top millet producing states are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand. This is a highly rich and readily available cereal crop in India, so these attributes make finger millet one of the popular crops in the country.

Ragi Cultivation in India

Soil and Climate

Finger millet or Ragi can be grown in very poor as well as in very fertile soils. It is grown in all types of soils and also in slightly alkaline soils. Alluvial, loamy and sandy soils are best for cultivating finger millet. It is a tropical and subtropical climate day crop which requires a minimum temperature of 8-10°C. For proper growth and high crop yield, the ideal temperature of ragi is 26-29°C. It can also be cultivated up to 1200 m altitude.

Land Preparation

Land preparation should be done correctly for finger millet crop planting. MB plough deeply ploughs soil and if needed, then it is followed by twice ploughing, which is necessary for better growth and germination of the crop. The secondary tillage by the cultivator is essential to preparing the seed bed. The ragi seeds are tiny and can germinate in 5-7 days, so the soil depth should not be more than 2.5 cm.

Sowing and Seed Rates

Line sowing is ideal for finger millet planting. A 4-5 lakhs per hectare plant population is optimum for higher yields. This can be done using a seed drill by giving a spacing of 22.5-30 cm between rows and 7.5-10 cm between plants. A seed rate of 10 kg per hectare is optimum for drill sowing, whereas a seed rate of 5 kg per hectare is ideal for raising seedlings for transplanted conditions. Entire P₂O₅ and K₂O is applied at sowing, while nitrogen application depends upon moisture availability. 7.5 to 10 tonnes per hectare FYM is ideal for better root growth of ragi.

Inter Cropping and Crop Rotation

The intercropping and crop rotation methods benefit farmers in India. Finger millet intercropping with pigeon pea, soybean and black gram helps manage different crops in the same land space and gives farmers financial benefits. The crop rotation with legumes like black gram, rice bean, soybean, horse gram groundnut, etc., increases the overall productivity and health of the soil and helps in sustainable higher yields.

Pest Management and Weed Control

It is essential to control pest management and weed control at the initial stage of plant growth. Drying the seeds to maintain moisture level and applying one kg of activated kaolin or malathion 5% D for every 100 kg of seed is necessary for pest management and weed control. The weeding should be done with a hand hoe at 25 DAS-post-emergence application of 2, 4-D sodium salt (80%) @ 0.75 kg a.i. /hectare at 20-25 DAS. Isoproturon @ 0.5 kg a.i/ hectare is used for the pre-emergence spray in weed control.

Irrigation Management

Irrigation is not usually required in the sowing of ragi because an adequate amount of water is there during the Kharif season, which is the ideal season for finger millet. But, when the rain stops for long days, proper irrigation management is essential. 8-14 irrigations are necessary depending on the weather conditions, soil type, and the variety duration to obtain better crop yields.

Harvesting

Harvesting of ragi should be done after the maturing stage of the ear-heads. The short-duration varieties mature in 95-110 days, while medium to late varieties mature in 115-125 days. After harvesting, we get approximately 25-30 q/ha of grain and 60-70 q/ha of fodder.

Top 5 Ragi Producing States in India 2023-24