Ragi had highest cost of cultivation among millets during the season
As 2023 is being celebrated as the International Year of Millets, India is also focusing on the nutri-cereals including bajra (pearl millet), jowar (sorghum and ragi (finger millet) for which the government offers the minimum support price (MSP). For the 2022-23 kharif (summer-sown) marketing season (KMS), the Indian government had announced the MSP for jowar (hybrid) at Rs 2,970 per quintal and Rs 2,990 per quintal jowar (maldandi) — an increase of Rs 232 each for both from the 2021-22 KMS.
The MSP of bajra was also raised by Rs 100 to Rs 2,350 per quintal for KMS 2022-23. The support price of ragi was increased by Rs 201 to Rs 3,578 per quintal for the KMS 2022-23.
MSP FOR MILLETS FOR 2022-23 KHARIF MARKETING SEASON
| Crop | MSP for 2022-23 (Rs/Q) | MSP for 2021-22 (Rs/Q) | Increase (Rs/Q) | Increase in percentage |
| Jowar (Hybrid) | 2,970 | 2,738 | 232 | 8.47% |
| Jowar (Maldandi) | 2,990 | 2,758 | 232 | 8.41% |
| Bajra | 2,350 | 2,250 | 100 | 4.44% |
| Ragi | 3,578 | 3,377 | 201 | 5.95% |
Among the kharif nutri-cereal crops, bajra (pearl millet) had the highest average gross returns over the cost of cultivation (CoC) in the 2022-23 kharif marketing season in India. As per the calculations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), the average gross returns of bajra over CoC A2+FL (paid-out cost plus imputed value of family labour) during the triennium ending (TE) 2020-21 were Rs 10,195 per hectare or Rs 4,078 per acre.
Average gross returns over CoC for jowar (sorghum) and ragi (finger millet) were Rs 9,422 per hectare (Rs 3,769 per acre) and Rs 6,411 per hectare (Rs 2,564 per acre) respectively.
All-India average costs and gross returns over actual cost of cultivation plus imputed family labour of nutri-cereals during triennium ending 2020-21
| Crop | CoC A2+FL | GVO | Gross returns over CoC A2 | |
| Rs per hectare | Rs per hectare (Column 3-Column 2) | Percentage (Column 4/Column 2*100) | ||
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | Column 5 |
| **Jowar | 35,005 | 44,427 | 9,422 | 26.9 |
| Bajra | 30,516 | 40,711 | 10,195 | 33.4 |
| **Ragi | 51,315 | 57,726 | 6,411 | 12.5 |
Source: CACP calculation
GVO: Gross value of output
A2+FL: Paid-out cost plus imputed family labour
All India CoC, GVO and gross returns of a crop are weighted average of respective CoC, GVO and gross returns of projected states
**Average gross returns for jowar in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana and ragi in Maharashtra, Tamil and Uttarakhand for 2018-19 and 2019-20
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