Divisi
How to grow Finger millet
Eleusine coracana · Poaceae
Photo: Otukei Moses · CC BY-SA 4.0
Finger millet (rapoko, rukweza, zviyo, wimbi, uphoko, mawere, dagussa, uburo) is a hardy highland grain that grows where maize and sorghum give up — high up cool slopes and right through dry spells that would wilt other crops. Each plant sends up many shoots (tillers), and every shoot carries a hand-shaped bunch of finger-like spikes — the 'fingers' that give the crop its name — filled with tiny reddish-brown grains. It pollinates itself, so it will not cross with a neighbour's crop and you can keep your own clean seed year after year. The grain makes thick porridge, malt and brew, and a first food for babies — and, stored dry on the head, it keeps for years without spoiling, the classic hungry-season reserve. Your two hardest jobs all season are telling the slow young crop apart from its weed look-alike, and guarding the heads from blast disease and from birds.
Prathyush Thomas · GFDL 1.2 
DFID - UK Department for International Development · CC BY 2.0
- Days to maturity
- 90–130 days
- Row spacing
- 25 cm
- Plant spacing in the row
- 10 cm
- Sowing depth
- 1–3 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
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Other names for Finger millet
dagussa · dagusa · finger millet · African millet · koracan · tamba · bulo · uphoko · mawere · lipoko · uburo · rapoko · rukweza · zviyo · wimbi · ulezi
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing finger millet, stage by stage
Your whole finger-millet season on one page: a fine, firm seedbed and clean, treated seed; line-sowing (never scattering) so you can tell the crop from its weed twin; an on-time first weeding — the single biggest job of all; a light feed of nitrogen; blast control the moment the heads come out; then day-long bird-scaring and drying the heads hard so the grain keeps for years.
- Get your field and seed ready
- Sow (or transplant) and get an even stand
- Tiller up and keep it clean
- Protect the heads — the make-or-break window
- Fill the grain and keep the birds off
- Harvest the heads
- Dry hard, store on the head
16 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for finger millet — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack finger millet
1 more threat tracked in the app
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your finger millet right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does finger millet take to grow?
Finger millet takes about 90–130 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
What spacing should I use for finger millet?
Space finger millet rows about 25 cm apart, with roughly 10 cm between plants within the row.
How deep should finger millet be planted?
Sow finger millet at about 1–3 cm deep. Shallower risks drying out; deeper wastes seed energy before the shoot reaches light.
What pests and diseases attack finger millet?
The ones covered in this guide are Ergot, Fusarium head blight, Grain-eating birds. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
Grow finger millet with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
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