The Agro Market Intelligence and Business Promotion Centre (AMIBPC), Tiruchi, has advised farmers to store the harvested ragi and sell in February – March.
Econometric analysis of the back office of the AMIBPC has indicated that the price of fully cleaned ragi will rule around Rs.16-18 a kg from December to February. There is little chance of the price increasing in March, the AMIBPC said in an advisory to farmers.
The advisory was issued based on the analysis of the ragi prices at the Tindivanam regulated market over the past 10 years by scientists at the AIMBPC back office at the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development Studies (CARDS) in the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
Ragi is mainly grown in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra. During 2013-14, India produced 1.88 million tonnes of ragi from 1.38 million hectares with an average productivity of 1.64 tonnes per hectare. Tamil Nadu has the highest productivity of 2.73 tonnes per hectare. Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Salem and Erode districts together accounted for 96 per cent of the total area of 70,294 ha under this crop during 2012 -13. The area and production showed declining trend though the productivity was on the increase in Tamil Nadu.
Ragi is substituted with maize in feed preparation whenever the price of ragi is lower than maize price. Ragi production in Karnataka, demand by the end users and maize price are the major factors which decide the price of ragi in Tamil Nadu. It fetches peak prices during February- March and lean prices during August- September. Arrivals from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu coincide during January. Trade sources have indicated that this year huge ragi production is expected in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu which may cause a further decline in prices. The current farm gate price of maize is Rs.1,200 per quintal whereas ragi is being sold at Rs.1,700 per quintal. This will not support the increased use of ragi in the feed preparation, the advisory said.
