Eleusine coracana is an annual plant widely grown as a cereal in the arid areas of Africa and Asia. Earliest records of its cultivation in India show that it was cultivated in the Hallur region of Karnataka in the later Iron Age. It remains one of the main ingredients of the staple diet in Karnataka.

It is commonly known as finger millet,African finger millet,red millet, caracan millet,koracan, and ragi Kannada: ರಾಗಿ. E. coracana is native to the Ethiopian Highlands where it is called dagusa. It is very adaptable to higher elevations and is grown in the Himalaya up to 2,300 metres in elevation.

History

Finger millet have been cultivated in India from as far back as 4000 years ago. Now the Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and a few others produce ragi. Karnataka is the top producer of Ragi and has 58% share in India's export of this crop.

Cultivation

Eleusine coracana is often intercropped with legumes such as peanuts (Arachis hypogea), cowpeas (Vigna sinensis), and pigeon peas (Cajanus cajan), or other plants such as Niger seeds (Guizotia abyssinica).