Store and sell cumbu and ragi during Mar- April

Farmers have been advised to store and sell Cumbu (pearl millet) and Ragi during March-April, as the price of Cumbu would revolve around Rs.1,500 to 1,700 and fully cleaned ragi around Rs.1800-2000 per quintal then.
As the current price of cumbu is Rs.1,350 and ragi Rs 1,750 per quintal, the Agro Marketing Intelligence and Business Promotion Centre in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University here, carried out the price behaviour of these crops--12 years in Villupuram for Cumbu and 10 years for Ragi in Tindivanam Regulated markets, and arrived at the expected price in March-April, a release said.
In Tamil Nadu, Cumbu is cultivated mostly in two seasons-- May-June and October- November and in 2012-13, it was grown in an area of about 0.43 lakh hectares with a production of 0.57 lakh tonnes with a productivity of 1.31 tonnes per hectare.

However, the area and production declined by seven per cent and 50 per cent during 2012-13 compared to 2011-12, it said.
Tamil Nadu is having the highest productivity of ragi, with 1.96 tonnes per hectare.