CARIBBEAN WEEK OF AGRICULTURE
www.caribbeanweekofagriculture.ag
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA 2012
138
The Fiery Harvest:Scotch Bonnet & Moruga Red Pepper Seed Production
Hot peppers of the species Capsicum chinense are native to South and Central America and to the Caribbean islands. Most West Indians are addicted to hot pepper sauce, and each nation proudly produces its own. Marie Sharp’s Hot Sauce in Belize, Walkerswood and Pickapeppa in Jamaica, Susie’s Hot Sauce in Antigua, Bello’s Hot Pepper Sauce in Dominica, Barons West Indian Hot Sauce in St. Lucia, Erica’s Country Style Hot Sauce in St. Vincent. Guyana’s household brand is Ricks & Sari, although many Guyanese traditionally produce their own sauces. But hot peppers are grown in the Caribbean islands not just for local consumption; they are becoming an increasingly valuable export crop all over the Region. Caribbean farmers produce on average 20,000 tons of fresh hot peppers each year. The United States is the leading importer of hot peppers, followed by Canada and the European Union. India is a major consumer, but it produces much of what it needs domestically. The demand for unusual and increasingly hot peppers is growing in Western countries, and the Caribbean nations are aligning themselves to meet this demand. The Caribbean Region is the natural habitat for a wide variety hot peppers, with local or landrace varieties to be found everywhere. The Caribbean Agriculture and Research and Development Institute (CARDI), in collaboration with national agricultural institutions in each member country, has been working to develop commercial varieties suitable for export. Within the framework of this programme Barbados and Trinidad have been producing new cultivars. CARDI is also working to establish production of high quality seeds for CARICOM member nations. Antigua and Barbuda have been chosen by CARDI to produce
pedigree seeds for this burgeoning market. Conditions here are ideal for producing high quality seeds, which requires a low level of humidity combined with high temperatures so that seeds dry naturally with minimal risk of seed-borne pests. There’s that old saying: “the hotter the weather, the better the pepper”. The CARDI-directed Antigua programme is currently producing Scotch Bonnet and Moruga Red pepper seeds for export to Jamaica and Trinidad. The types of hot pepper most in demand for export are Yellow Scotch Bonnet, West Indies Red, Cardi Green, Habanero, Big Sun, Tiger Teeth, Cayenne or Bird Pepper, Wiri Wiri, Cardi Moruga Red, Cardi Congo, Peggy Mouth, Goat Pepper, Bonnie Pepper, and Bonda Majaque. Measured on the Scoville scale of heat units for degree of pungency, most of these peppers are medium to hot, with some of the habaneros, particularly the Scotch Bonnet, topping the scale at a whopping 250,000 Scoville Heat Units. To bring this into perspective, the green bell pepper has zero SHUs, and the famously hot jalapeno pepper rates between 2,500 and 8,000 SHUs, depending on growing conditions. And, yes, there are people out there who crave the hottest peppers. That’s our market.
Did you know ?
It takes 100 pounds of fresh peppers to yield 2.5 pounds of seeds, and Antigua is targeted to produce from 2013, 400 pounds of quality hot pepper seeds for export each year, with a wholesale price of US$300 per pound.