Chilli farming in Kenya is gaining traction as commercial crop as demand surges, with regions previously regarded low economic potential parts of the country – eastern, coast, Rift Valley and parts of central Kenya – elevating it to a quasi-cash crop.

Major chilli varieties include Bird’s Eye, African Bird’s Eye and Habanero chillies. However, despite offering great returns for both small-scale and large-scale commercial farmers, the fact that it can grow almost everywhere in the country many Kenyan still consider chilli just as an additional food spice.

Aware of the existing huge international market, the national and county government are now actively promoting chilli farming as a driver of the economy in counties like Makueni, Kitui, Machakos, Kajiado, Isiolo – all designated arid-and-semi-arid. Growing interest in chilli farming is targeting the international market and the governments are taking steps to support chilli farming.

Both national and county governments have their focus on the lucrative export market and are addressing hurdles like pest control, which has often been a setback for commercial pepper production.

Speaking during a farmers’ exhibition in Kandara, Murang’a, Kenya Agricultural Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) Director Crops System, Dr Lusike Wasilwa, said Kenya is serving less than half of its potential of its international market, with the United States of America, Netherlands, Germany, Russia, UK, Canada, France, UAE and Poland ready to buy Kenyan chilli.

At regional level, major markets for fresh Kenya chillies are Uganda and Tanzania. India and the UK Germany, and Italy buy dried chilies from Kenya.

Kenya started exporting chilli way back in 2006.

Dr Lusike noted that research on chilli has been going on for the past 10 years and although it has been slow, KALRO has lined up nine varieties it hopes will next year undergo the national performance trials.

“We are looking at these nine lines and working with a Gooseberry Delight that processes sweet and sour sauce,” he said, and added, “Consuming chilli is good for nutrition.”

Dr Lusike notes that chilli is good source of vitamins and minerals particularly vitamin C, helps one’s body resist infections and thus can be a healthy addition to one’s diet as an immune booster.”

The director observes that the rise in chilli farming is shaped by market forces as the world embraces vibrant spicy foods and the versatility of chilli in cooking creates exciting opportunities for Kenyan farmers in agribusiness.

There are approximately 4,000 varieties of chili peppers in the world and just like in most countries, in Kenya most are imported and distributed by companies like Equator, which is the leading grower and distributor for African Bird Eye Chillies and also SAKATA, which is a commercial partner.

Speaking at the KALRO farm, Angus Douglas Hamilton from SAKATA Seeds East Africa said the company is screening over 10 varieties of chilies at the KALRO farm.

SAKATA seeds, a global company based in Japan and operates in over 170 countries has been partnering with KALRO and using their farms to perform trials on various crops such as cabbages, butternuts, onions and also tomatoes.

“The chili market is developing quite fast in East Africa and there is a big demand for habanero, bird’s eye chili, serrano types as well as the cayenne”, he said adding that Asian market is also quite enormous and should be a great opportunity for Kenyan to take up some of the various varieties especially the serrano commercially.

Bird’s eye variety, he explained, has been one of most popular in Kenya for many years and thus this year KALRO will be launching two bird’s eye chili varieties considering that China is investing heavily in Africa and one of the leading products by demand at the moment are chillies.

“A lot of farmers are going into producing the cayenne type and drying it on the farm and selling either powdered or flaked product,” he added saying that people have also been talking on how chillies have medicinal qualities.

Kenya as well as across all the East African region from Ethiopia, down to Tanzania, to Rwanda, Hamilton said, small farmers are planting chilies and competing for the export market.

“All markets without exception are looking for very hot chillies. The hotter the better, but there are different markets for the different varieties and you will find the jalapenos type tend to go into the restaurants and also into pickles. The cayenne types are ideal for drying and storage, while the serrano types are more in the Mexican cuisine, known for their medium to medium-hot spice level,” he explained.

Kenyan chilli and peppers, green production in 2023 was 10745.74 tonnes, while the dry chillies was 2989.43 tonnes in 2023 with most popular market outlets being processors taking up 52 per centand aggregators or brokers (41 per cent).

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Wangari Ndirangu