On the chilli trail

With private exporters locating overseas customers for bhot jolokiya,Assam has for the first time gone for a systematic cultivation of one of worlds hottest chillies....

Amid their tea gardens,farmers in Assam have found a new crop to spice up their lives with. Hundreds of them have taken to cultivation of bhot jolokia,declared the worlds hottest chilli in 2007 by the Guinness World Records,with the state government extending support under the horticulture technology mission.

We have taken up 500 hectares for cultivation of bhot jolokiya spread over the three districts of Golaghat,Baska and Nagaon during 2009-10. About 2,000 farmers are already engaged in growing this variety of chilli that promises high returns, said Harshajyoti Baruah,Officer on Special Duty,state agriculture department.

The government,he said,has provided a one-time grant of Rs 13,000 per hectare to farmers growing bhot jolokiya.

In Golaghat,around 500 farmers,mostly women,have sown bhot jolokiya,called king chilli in local parlance,in 150 hectares of land. The first harvest is expected in a couple of weeks.

While we began planting the saplings on Diwali last year,the weather has been causing problems,first with scanty rains,and now heavy rains in the past four weeks, said Khireswari Saikia,secretary,Golaghat Nirman Mahila Got,an extended self-help group.

Farmers in Baska and Nagaon are also doing well,said OSD Baruah,with the state agriculture department now drawing up plans to extend bhot jolokiya cultivation to 500 more hectares during 2010-11.

Though the first ever systematically planted crop is yet to see its maiden harvest,farmers in areas adjoining the first lot are already making enquiries, Barua said.

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This variety of chilli is already fetching between Rs 150 to Rs 250 per kilogram,with some private exporters like the Jorhat-based Frontal Agrotech and Guwahati-based Greencover Overseas locating customers in faraway countries including Japan,the UK,Sweden,Venezuela,Australia and France.

Bhot jolokiya,which had recorded a Scoville Heat Unit of 8,55,000 to become the worlds hottest chilli,has been traditionally used in Assam and other Northeastern states as well as Bhutan for making pickles apart from being eaten to cure stomach ailments. Its also used by the Indian Army to make hand grenades to immobilize terror suspects,

Its plant height ranges from 45 to 120 cms,and the sub-conical fruit,which becomes brilliant red when ripe,is 5.95 to 8.54 cm in length and weighs between 6.5 gram and 9 gram.

The most encouraging news is from Karbi Anglong district adjoining Golaghat,where a first-generation entrepreneur named Chandan Bora has set up a plant for drying and processing king chilli that he procures from farmers who have been traditionally growing it even before horticulture technology mission was launched.

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Bhot jolokiya is an indigenous crop that has been grown since time immemorial in Assam and Nagaland. I have set up a network of my own and supply processed and dried chillies to various customers, said Bora.

Boras Karbi Anglong Agro-Processing Industry,established at a cost of Rs 4.5 lakh at Japarajan last year,supplied about 3,000 kgs of dried and processed bhot jolokiya to different agro-marketing companies. This year I have already signed a contract with ITC Ltd for supplying them 10 tonnes of chilli, Bora said.

Scientists at the Assam Agricultural University AAU at Jorhat,meanwhile,have come forward to extend scientific and Ramp;D support to the state agriculture department as well as the farmers. AAU scientists are working on methods to retain the original colour of the chillies even after they are dried and processed. Such chillies always fetch better price. But what is more important at the moment is keeping the plants safe from pests and diseases, OSD Barua said.