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Ragi acreage set to expand on policy push -Vishwanath Kulkarni
-The Hindu Business Line

Health-conscious consumers, value-added products seen boosting consumption

Bengaluru: Apart from the rising awareness of nutritive benefits, the policy push being given by Karnataka – the largest ragi producing State – is set to see the acreage under finger millet (ragi) grow considerably in the years to come.

Higher MSP

The Karnataka government has procured over one lakh tonnes of ragi at 2,000 a quintal last year (includes a bonus of 450 over the MSP of 1,550 announced by Centre for 2014-15) for public distribution under the Annabhagya Scheme in southern districts, the main growing regions of the cereal.

For the kharif 2015-16, the Centre has announced a 100 increase in MSP at 1,650, while Karnataka is yet to spell out its procurement target and the support price. However, the expectation is that procurement and the support price would be higher than last year.

Ragi is a staple food in the southern States where it is largely consumed in the form of porridge, bread and dumplings or balls along with curry. This finger millet is largely grown as main crop and also as inter-crop in the State, largely under rain-fed conditions.

“The message of assured procurement has gone to the farmers and we expect the acreages to increase to around 10 lakh hectares (lh) in a year or two from the current 7 lh,” said TN Prakash Kammaradi, Chairman of the Karnataka Agricultural Price Commission.

Dwindling area

Karnataka accounts for over two-thirds of the country’s total produce, followed by Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The acreage under ragi in Karnataka, which stood at 10 lh about 15 years ago, had dwindled to between 6 and 7 lh. “We hope the policy push being provided through a higher support price would bring back the farmers to ragi in the years to come,” Prakash added.

Farm mechanisation

Also the proposed initiative for introducing mechanisation, especially the harvest reapers, could provide a fillip to the cultivation. “Harvesting is a labourious process and accounts for a major part of the cost of cultivation. With the development of ragi reapers, it is expected that the cost of cultivation is set to come down,” Prakash said adding that the commission is recommending subsidising such ragi reapers.

Farm varsity initiatives

Effective procurement and assured price could help wean farmers growing other commodities to ragi. “Tomato growers in Kolar and Chikaballapur districts could easily be brought back to cultivation of ragi, which consumes less water,” said P Ravi Shankar, Genetist at University of Agriculture Sciences, Bengaluru. Incidentally, in these districts water tables have dropped considerably in the past few years due to over exploitation and farmers have been facing gluts in tomatoes year-after-year.

The UAS-Bengaluru recently released a ragi variety that’s white in colour for cultivation this year, although the State varietal release committee is yet to notify it. The white variety is targeted at bakers and makers of biscuits, vermicilli, pasta and cereal-based snacks and could help in attracting new set of consumers.

The UAS-Bengaluru, including its centre in Mandya, has distributed about 30 kg of white ragi seeds this year, which should result in coverage of about 250 acres. “We expect the white ragi to see a jump in comings years on rise in awareness,” said Ravishankar. White ragi has the potential to yield about 12-15 quintals irrigation, while in the rain-fed areas, it is about 7-8 quintals.

Corporates chip in

Ragi has seen a new-found demand in recent years with health-conscious consumers waking up to the nutritional benefits of the cereal even as lifestyle diseases are on the rise. With its high calcium, protein and fibre content, compared to other cereals such as wheat and rice, ragi has found a favour even among biscuit makers including companies such as Britannia, breakfast cereal makers Kottaram Agro Foods Pvt Ltd and manufacturers of ready to eat mixes such as MTR Foods and Maiyas.

The rising awareness of the nutritional benefits of ragi and development of value added products – be it in the form of biscuits or cakes, malt and even porridge mix is driving the consumption of such small millets.

Prashant Parameswaran, managing director of Kottaram Agro Foods Pvt Ltd, which markets ragi-based products under the Soulfull brand, said the ragi-based products have been resonating well with the consumers even as the company targets newer markets in western part of the country mainly Mumbai. “We had apprehensions when we lauched the products last year, but the consumer response has been phenomenal,” he added.

Soulfull, which has innovative products such as ragi chocofills and ragi vanilla fills and banana flakes among others has recently launched even a 10 pack in a bid to boost consumption targeting school children, Prashant added.