The quality of coriander has also deteriorated due to the long passage of time with the banks now finding it difficult to recover their advances. These purchases were made at a price range of Rs 2500 per quintal to Rs 4000 per quintal and the today's ruling price hovers around Rs 1200 per quintal.

Compared to the last three years, the coriander has remained firm this year and traders even fear that in the coming months the prices may still fall. This is because of the fact that the old stocks may now have to be sold out at whatever prices possible.

In the entire country, old stocks of coriander are put at around 20 lakh bagsand even the export of the same has become quite difficult. Some exports are being made from the nearby Madhya Pradesh due to the sales tax benefits.

However in the world market too coriander has not seen much of the upheavals.Last year was exceptional in terms of production of coriander. The total area covered was 2.32 lakh hectares in Rajasthan alone, the highest ever. And the production was put at 2.25 lakh tonnes.

This year, however, the area has fallen to 1.87 lakh hectares but the production has risen due to high yields. The agriculture department is not in a position to give the estimated production figures. However, it is believed in the trading community that the total production may be around 2 lakh tonnes, if not more.

Last year the government had even given the price support to the farmers when Rajfed had made purchases of around 20,000 tonnes at a price of Rs 1500 per tonne. But this year the government is in no mood to give any price support to the farmers.

At one stage about 25,000 bagsof coriander had hit the Ramganjmandi in a day. But now the daily arrivals have fallen to around 10,000 bags, says Lalit Patni, a leading trader. In the month of April the arrivals were maximum.

Good quality coriander (green in shade) is available now at around Rs 2000 per quintal which was available in about Rs 4000 per quintal last year. From Ramganjmandi coriander is transported to Madhya Pradesh where purchases are made for export purposes. But this year the movement of coriander is not much as the traders have shown less of interest in dealing with the same.

The department is doing its best to let the farmers undertake more of sowings as the cash crop fetches a good price to them compared to other such crops.