Finger Millet Names:Finger millet (Eleusine coracana ) or wimbi or ulesi in Kiswahili, local names in Kenya (obure, obori, kal, akima, oboro)
Recommended varieties
Select varieties adapted to your agro-ecological zones and special traits like blast disease, Striga weed, and lodge resistance.
A high yielding, early maturing, finger millet variety
It is a long to medium day length plant with optimal photo period of 12 hours.
Rainfall: Finger Millet grows well under moderate rainfall of 500-1000 mm annually. With good distribution, Finger millet can tolerate rainfall as low as 130mm; but performs best at 900mm.
Temperature: Finger millet grows best where average maximum temperatures exceed 27°C and the average minimum do not fall below 18°C, but can grow in temperatures as high as 35°C.
Altitude: Most of the world's finger millet is grown at intermediate elevations, between 500 and 2,400 m a.s.l., but the crop can grow from sea-level to over 2,400 m.a.s.l.
Soils: Finger millet can grow on a variety of soils, but does well on well-drained silt loam soils - reddish brown earth, calcic red yellow latasols and sandy regosol
Seeds and fertilizers should be obtained from reliable sources. In the absence of certified seed, farmer saved seeds are alternatives
Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) -Fertilizer in finger millet cultivation
ISFM is a set of soil fertility management practices that include the use of fertilizers, manure and improved seed combined to adapt practices to local conditions.
Plant parasite pest
Blast disease - most important.
Striga is controlled through HPR, mechanical, and cultural methods; blast disease is mainly managed through HPR; and birds through physical, mechanical, and HPR.
ISFM is a set of soil fertility management practices that include the use of fertilizers, manure and improved seed combined to adapt practices to local conditions.
Post-Harvest
This is a stage of crop production after harvest, including drying, threshing, winnowing/cleaning, packing, storage etc. It determines the quality of grain.
Target is to extract clean grain from heads and glume:
Achieved through use of a thresher if available but can also winnow by pounding on clean surface like canvas.
Avoid pounding on hard surface to avoid grain breakage; avoid pounding on bare ground to avoid grit.
JKUAT/ Egerton University developed thresher
KALRO AMRI developed thesher
Winnowing
Transportation
in Storage
Finger Millet Ugali
Uji (porridge)
A highly nutritious, non-glutinous and none acid forming food
Finger Millet Crackie
- A dry snack made from finger millet, sweet potato, spices and wheat flour
TAMUU Paste Food Product
A paste food product that can be used as bread spread or consumed directly.
Finger Millet Onion Bites
A snack made from finger millet, sweet potato, wheat flour and onions.
Finger Millet Cake
-made from a finger millet – wheat flour composite.
Finger Millet Chapatti
A main meal made from a finger millet – wheat flour composite.
Finger Millet Mandazi
-A snack made from a finger millet – wheat flour blend.
Finger Millet Blended and Composite Flour
Flours made from finger millet – wheat, cassava, or maize flour composites.
Finger Millet Biscuit
-Snack made from finger millet – wheat flour composite.
Agricultural mechanization is a process that replaces human labor along an agricultural value chain by other sources of energy like animal power, fuel, or renewable energy (Malabo Montpellier Panel Report, 2019). A number of machines can be applied at various nodes of finger millet value chain.
Shallow weeder (hoe)
Seed drill
Knapsack Motorized Mist Blower Cum Duster
Gasoline Tiller Cultivator Weeder
A small multi-purpose machine for small fields. It has options for tilling, weeding, cutting etc.
Revenue
Yield per acre 11 x 90kg bags
11x90-kg bags @ KES.75 per kg
Total Revenue: 74,250/=
Business Costs and Revenue per acre of Finger millet (KES)
Seeds 2 kg @ 350 per acre 360
Land preparation (ox plough) 6,000
Planting cost (10 mandays x 300) 2,500
Fertilizer (basal & top dressing,
1 bag each) 6,000
Weeding twice & thinning
(30 mandays) 9,000
Harvesting & airing (4 Mandays
x 5 days x 300) 6,000
Threshing & winnowing
(10 mandays) 3,000
Transport 800
Miscellaneous costs 1,000
Total cost 34,660
Gross margin/acre
(Revenue – Cost) 39,590
Further reading
Central Planning and Project Monitoring Unit, (2015), Economic Review of Agriculture (ERA), pp. 104, Ministry of Agriculture, Nairobi.
Keatinge J., Easdown W., Yang R., Chadha M. and Shanmugasundaram S. (2011). Overcoming chronic malnutrition in a future warming world: the key importance of Finger millet and vegetable soybean. Euphytica 180, 129-141.
Malabo Montpellier Panel Report, 2019. Platform for African European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development. PAEPARD, EU, FARA.
Oduori C.O.A. 2018. Finger Millet Variety P-224. Leaflet funded by the McKnight Foundation CCRP EAF CoP Finger Millet Improvement Project. Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization
Contacts
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization
P.O. Box 57811-00200, Nairobi, Kenya
Call: 0111010100