A good monsoon rain and favourable climatic conditions have made a perfect seedbed for the cultivation of two key spices of the Indian palate - cumin seeds (jeera) and coriander (dhaniya). Farmers engaged in the cultivation of these two spices can expect a bumper harvest on higher acreage.
Cumin growers in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, reportedly, said that they are expecting a 25-30 per cent higher yield over the last year. It is likely that the farmers have produced about 5 lakh tonnes as against about 4.1 lakh tonnes of crop size in the previous year.
Vijay Joshi, President of Unjha Commodity Association, said, “The weather is very supportive for jeera crop. The yield is going to be much better this year. We expect about 30 per cent higher production in Gujarat this season. The next ten days appear clear without any weather disturbance. If it stays so for about a month more, there will be a very good crop." Unjha Commodity Association is considered to be the largest trading hub for jeera.
Many farmers also indicated that there was a marginal impact on the crop due to the locust attack happened in the month of December in southern Rajasthan and north Gujarat, which were primarily jeera and dhaniya growing regions. However, the damages will be compensated with higher yield in other places, as told by Joshi.
Earlier, there were speculation about the impact of the West Asia tensions on the exports. Commenting on the same, Joshi said it would not be impacting India's jeera exports. “The exports will continue to happen to the US, which buys about 5,000-6,000 tonnes from us. Iran has its own cultivation of the cumin seed so it is not a market for us. So we don’t see any impact on exports,” Joshi further added.
