Ragi cultivation in India is a crucial practice, primarily in the southern states, as it's a drought-resistant crop rich in nutrients, offering food security and economic stability to many rural communities.
List of crop varieties: VLMandua-204, VLMandua-146, VLMandua-314, VLMandua-315, H-22, K 1, Hullubele, Karegidda, Gidda, Jasarilambi, Madayyanagiri-1, Madayyanagiri-2, Dodda, Jadesanga, Jenumudda and more.
Finger millet thrives best when daytime temperatures range from 30°C to 34°C and nighttime temperature is between 22°C and 25°C, with an ideal annual rainfall of approximately 100 cm.
Finger millet can thrive in various soil types, although it flourishes best in well-draining, porous, and sandy loam soils within a pH range of 4.5 to 8.0. It's important to avoid heavy soils with poor drainage.
Land preparation techniques vary for rainfed and irrigated conditions. Deep ploughing is done multiple times in rainfed areas (80 cm rainfall) to retain soil moisture while irrigated fields are ploughed.
In rainfed finger millet farming, propagation primarily relies on seeds. Sowing methods encompass broadcasting, line sowing (22-30 cm line spacing), drilling in rows, and seedling transplantation.