The genus Capsicum is a very diverse grouping of plants brought to the old world by Columbus in the late 15th century. Capsaicin is the part of a chilli that makes it ‘hot’ and is derived from the dried fruits from the family Solanaceae, (e.g. Capsicum frutescens or Capsicum annum). These varieties are grown either as an annual or perennial and in tropical areas the plant can produce fruits for up to 3 years. In addition, these hot peppers are being used by farmers to protect their crops from mammal pests.

African Spices Pvt Ltd.(AS) was formed in 2000 to sell chilli peppers to domestic, regional and international markets. EPDT selected AS to act as a for-profit facilitator between a collection of communal farmers who normally harvest small amounts of cash and food crops. The specific reason that the chilli pepper was targeted as a cash crop was two fold; 1) the pepper is a highly adaptable plant which can grow under conditions other cash crop cannot and 2) the complex chemicals that make peppers hot make them unpalatable to mammal pests. One of the main constraints on agricultural in the Zambezi Valley is crop raiding by elephants, buffalos and a variety of primates.

EPDT has been involved in the concepts around fair trade since our inception. We realised that the only way to get commitment from our producers was to negotiate a fair price before they put their chilli seeds in the ground. By partnering with AS, we are able to guarantee to buy back every chilli grown on our projects to give the rural producer what they have never had- price stability. We are also dedicated to growing following organic principles by using integrated pest management and natural compost rather than chemical fertilizers.