Yields in Barmer, Jalore, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Pali and Sirohi districts of the state, where cummin is sown in vast areas, have registered a steep fall as compared with the previous year.

Rajasthan is next to Gujarat in terms of cummin output. Last year, was an exception when Rajasthan got the first position in cumin cultivation that covered a total area of 1.98 lakh hectares of area and production totalled 65,714 tonnes.

Daily arrivals dropped to 2,000 bags as against 5,000 seen in the previous year at Nagaur mandi. The mandi covers the entire western region of Rajasthan.

In the mandi, cummin is currently available at around Rs 65 per kg as against Rs 80 per kg when the crop began pouring into the market sometime in March. In the Merta mandi, daily arrivals are also around 2,000 bags and the price ranges between Rs 35 and Rs 55 per kg depending upon the quality.Around this time last year, the price ofcummin ranged between Rs 45 and Rs 48 per kg.

Traders expect the cummin prices to take a dip after a few days--the fall may be by around Rs 5 per kg. The price may begin to rise again and is likely to be in a band of Rs 70-Rs 75 a kg.

Cummin is also exported from Gujarat though not in large quantities. Huge quantities of cummin find their way to Gujarat from Rajasthan where the farmers get better returns.

Some complaints have been received from abroad about the poor quality of cummin being exported from Gujarat.

It is alleged that in certain cases cummin has been adulterated with sonf, from the cumin family, for increasing returns.

Niwai and Kekri were once the main mandies of cummin in Rajasthan but now the focus has shifted to the western region bordering Gujarat.

Last year, Jalore covered 57,601 hectares of area under cummin followed by Barmer with 52,864 hectares.

In the Nagaur district the area covered last year was 42,413 hectares. During 1995-96 the total area under cummin was 1.25lakh hectares - the production was put at 36,000 tonnes.

The yield per hectare was 2.86 tonne.

The area covered during 1993-94 was the highest at 2.71 lakh hectares with the production touching the record figure of 1.10 lakh tonnes in Rajasthan.