Dimapur, Oct. 7 (EMN): The first king chilli festival (Chaiberatsi Ngyi) organised by Puilwa Lui Council was held in Puilwa New village under Peren district on Friday with former chief minister and chairman of United Democratic Alliance (UDA) government, TR Zeliang, as the special guest.
A DIPR report stated that Zeliang, in his address at the inaugural programme, said king chilli is a native crop of Nagaland and is believed to have originated from the Zeliangrong area. Zeliang said the king chilli is popular particularly among the Zeliangrong people that it has so many different names - Chaibe-ra-tsi (Zeme dialect), Chaha-ra-tsi (Zeme dialect), Chai-thiu-rasi (Liangmai dialect) and Saptingsai-su (Rongmei dialect).
The chilli is also known as Naga mircha or raja mircha in Nagamese and ghost pepper in English.
In July 2021, a consignment of Naga mircha sourced from the Tening area of Peren district was exported to London via Guwahati by air for the first time, which speaks volumes about the superior characteristics of Naga mircha grown in Peren district, it stated.
The UDA chairman said that king chilli has medicinal values and Naga mircha received Geographical Indication (GI) recognition in 2008 and is often regarded as among the hottest chillies in the world.
In Peren district, it is widely believed that the ideal place for cultivating Naga chilli is across bamboo and banana plantations where bamboo/banana fields are cut down and burned before cultivation (or slash and burn cultivation), Zeliang said.
The king chillies coming from Peren district are considered to be of the best quality with superior taste, aroma, flavour, and pungency as compared to other areas. Apart from fresh and dried forms, there are various ways in which these chillies can be marketed like in the form of powder, pickle, sauce etc. As such, there is huge scope for business ventures for the local people of Peren district.
Zeliang also informed that in September, a king chilli festival was held at Seiyama village under Chiphobozou Block, Kohima district, in collaboration with Horticulture department.
He also said that the World Bank adopted two districts in Nagaland (Peren and Tuensang) for the Nagaland Rural Livelihood Project (NLRP) scheme.
He said the concept of NRLP was very simple - to create a federal system of cooperative societies in every village viz. self help groups covered by unemployed youths, women self help group, and hangraima under the apex society (VC or VDB) for loan roster system with seed money provided by World Bank.
MLA Picto Shohe and Kelei Zeliang also addressed the gathering.