NE Agri Expo 2010

Since I have to wait for the bus to go back to Zunheboto with Ab. and the farmers (which was meant to leave at 4pm, then 9am, then 4pm again), I thought I'd post a few pictures from the North-east Agricultural Expo that's on (and ending today) here in Dimapur. The expo showcased produce from all over the 7 northeastern states of India - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, among other things. They also had a few model morungs from each of the major Naga tribes like at the Kisama Heritage Village.

I came to town to meet up with some people who've been doing work on Sumi, and the meetings went pretty well. Ab. was also in town for the entrepreneur seminars happening at the expo and we're going back to Zunheboto, hopefully, later today.

The 'welcome mithun' showcasing local beans and king chillies.


The governor was arriving the day I took this shot. The costumes reminded me a lot of China for some reason. Maybe it was the tackiness of it all.


No NE India expo would be complete without raja mircha 'Naga King Chillies' featured.


At Honey Fest 2010 - the government's really pushing for people to start bee cultivation in the state.

Eating chillies

Yesterday at the Hornbill Festival, they held a Naga Chilli eating competition for the first time. The winner popped 8 of the fiery peppers, known as raja mircha, ('king chilli'), Naga jolokia, bhut jolokia.

This may not seem like a lot to people used to popping  which may not sound like a lot, unless you know that these chillies have been found to rate up to 1,041,427 units on the Scoville scale which is a measure of spicy heat. Wikipedia gives the rating for Tabasco sauce as between 2,500 to 5,000 units, while bird's eye chillies rate between 50,000 to 100,000 units. The only chilli hotter than raja mircha is a hybrid called the Naga Viper made by cross-breeding the raja mircha and two other chillies and was developed in the UK.

Prize-winning chillies at the horticultural centre next to the Hornbill Festival grounds at Kisama.


In any case, these are still the hottest chillies in the world that are being cultivated and consumed en masse. There are even reports that the Indian army plan to put them in hand grenades. Dangerous stuff.