All that is hot may not necessarily be red. Camson Agri-Ventures, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Camson Bio Technologies, will soon launch two hybrid seeds of black chilli and button capsicum.

The zero residue hybrid black chilli and button capsicum dubbed Kali and Palar were successfully tested for commercial viability in trials conducted over last eight months and are now ready to hit the market.

To start with, Camson will grow Kali on 1,000 acres in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka over six months. The pungency of the disease-resistant Kali can be fine tuned between 15,000 Scoville heat units (SHU) (mild) and 1,00,000 SHU (high) according to the requirement of consumer.

Rohit Sareen, Head, Camson Agri-Ventures said that the company’s research has always revolved around providing higher returns for farmers while offering healthy fruits and vegetable at an affordable price to end consumers. While the cost of cultivation of Kali and Palar may range close to the conventional hybrid chilli variety at Rs 25,000-30,000 an acre depending on the farming technique, farmers are expected to benefit from higher yield.

The yield per acre of Kali is expected to be 8-12 tonnes against the conventional non-hybrid chilli’s 4-6 tonnes, while that of disease tolerant button capsicum may touch 40 tonnes an acre. Camson chilli scores over other hybrids by ripening in 70-75 days compared to other hybrids that take about 90 days. Camson is yet to decide on the price of Kali seeds. However, hybrid chilli seeds are priced at Rs 30,000-75,000 a kg depending on its characteristics.

By growing Camson chilli farmers can earn almost 50 per cent more compared to prices of fresh chilli which sells at around Rs 40-65 a kg depending on the variety, said Sareen.

The black chilli is also supposed to contain chemicals that have properties to fight cancer.

>suresh.i@thehindu.co.in

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