Low and unstable crop production has been a chronic problem of agriculture int eh dry region of Rajasthan, which is spread over 11 north-western districts and covers nearly three-fifth of the State. This paper after briefly reviewing the weather variability, the principal source of crop instability in the region, discusses the yield variability of the principal crops of the dry region. This is followed by a discussion of certain other features of crop instability, which tend to reduce the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the desert farmers to minimize the impact of instability and uncertainty in arid agriculture. The crop yield data fro 15 to 17 years pertaining to 11 arid districts of Rajasthan have been used.