Mizoram exports ‘bird's eye chilli’ to United States for the first time

Mizoram has exported locally grown ‘bird's eye chilli’, a Mizo organic chilli, to the United States for the first time as part of an initiative to expand the market and boost farmers' income, an official said on March 15.

State Agriculture Minister C. Lalrinsanga flagged off 7.5 metric tons of typical Mizo chilli to the US from south Mizoram's Lunglei district on Tuesday, the official said. 

The organic chilli was harvested by farmers from the three southern districts of Lunglei, Siaha and Lawngtlai, she said. The shipment is being transported to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh from where it will be sent to Nevada in the US, she said. 

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The initiative was taken jointly by International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA) under Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCD-NER) and Mission Organic Mizoram (MOM) of the agriculture department. Flagging off the consignment, Lalrinsanga congratulated the Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) for the successful completion of the project. 

These chillies are small, about half an inch in length, and have a distinct pungent flavour. ICCOA executive director Manoj Menon said that ‘bird's eye chilli’ from Mizoram had undergone stringent quality tests both in India and the US. 

Last month, Lalrinsanga informed the assembly that the state government has obtained a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Mizo chilli.