Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio releases special cover on ‘Naga Mircha’ by India Post Office

Naga Mircha or Raja Mircha is also popularly known as King Chilli which is considered as the world’s hottest chilli on the basis of Scoville Heat Units (SHUs) and Naga Mircha has already been certified as Geographically Indications (GI) tagged to Nagaland in 2008.

On the 75th Independence Day celebration of the nation, the Nagaland Chief Minister released the special cover on the ‘Naga Mircha’ as a GI tagged product.

Neiphiu Rio tweeted – “Released a Special Cover in the presence of my colleagues Shri @KaitoAye , Shri @MmhonlumoKikon  and Postmaster General, NE-II Region Shri Som Kamei. I thank @IndiaPostOffice for the initiative to release a Special Cover on the "Naga Mircha" as a GI tagged product.

Earlier on July 28, for the first time a consignment of ‘Naga Mircha’ from Nagaland was exported to London via Guwahati by air.

The consignment was sourced from Tening in Nagaland’s Peren district and was packed at the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) assisted packhouse in Guwahati.

The chilli from Nagaland is also referred to as Bhoot Jolokia and Ghost pepper.

As per the press release of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, APEDA in collaboration with the Nagaland State Agricultural Marketing Board (NSAMB), coordinated the first export consignment of fresh King Chilli. APEDA had coordinated with NSAMB in sending samples for laboratory testing in June and July 2021 and the results were encouraging as it is grown organically.

Exporting fresh King Chilli posed a challenge because of its highly perishable nature.

Nagaland King Chilli belongs to the genus Capsicum of the family Solanaceae. Naga king chilli has been considered as the world’s hottest chilli and is constantly on the top five in the list of the world's hottest chilies based on the SHUs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Wonderful news. Only those who have eaten the Bhoot Jolokia will know how spicy it is!”

The Naga King Chilli (or locally known as CHAIBERACHI in the Zeliangrong dialect and CHUDI CHUSI in the Angami dialect), was and is not only used as a food item, but was and is popularly used for medicinal purposes to cure various diseases, as an anti-venom, as well as in sports such as betting, eating competitions in social gatherings, social gena and festive functions as well as used as a weapon in warfare in bygone days.