Eleusine coracana, including African finger millet and caracan millet (koracan), is an annual plant widely grown as a cereal in the arid areas of Africa and Asia. E. coracana is originally native to the Ethiopian Highlands and was introduced into India approximately 4,000 years ago.^{[citation needed]} It is very adaptable to higher elevations and is grown in the Himalaya up to 2,300 metres in elevation.

Eleusine coracana is often intercropped with legumes such as peanuts (Arachis hypogea), cowpeas (Vigna sinensis), and pigeon peas (Cajanus cajan), or other plants such as Niger seeds (Guizotia abyssinica).

Although statistics on individual millet species are confused, and are sometimes combined with sorghum, it is estimated that finger millet is grown on approximately 38,000 km².

India is a major cultivator of finger millet with a total cultivated area of 15870 km². The state of Karnataka is the leading producer of finger millet, locally called as Ragi, accounting for 58% of India's Ragi production.