Breaking boundaries in hot pepper production in Jamaica

Alex Sybron once planned to become a professional cricketer, but now he’s a key figure in the Bodle Research Station, working to provide reliable, high-yielding seeds, which help to improve the quality of Jamaica’s peppers and farmers’ livelihoods. ©Javawney Crooks

“It is important for farmers to begin growing with the best planting material. This will give you an advantage to increase the crop's productivity.” These practices won’t keep the pests away altogether, but when pests only attack crops after being planted, there are more options to combat the infestations.

A key mission of the research station is to produce certified foundation seeds for one of Jamaica’s prime local and international export commodities – hot peppers. Jamaican hot peppers are world renowned for their heat ratings and flavour profile. Jamaica currently ranks about halfway up the table of the world’s top hot pepper producing countries, with the tonnage having increased rapidly over recent years despite Hurricane Beryl, which hit the country in July 2024.

However, production challenges and declining quality have been affecting the demand and competitiveness of the signature produce.

Then there are increasingly frequent and extreme climate events like Hurricane Beryl which, according to the island’s farmers, wiped out up to 90 percent of their hot pepper production.

“Since Beryl, it [production] has been very, very low and really challenging because of the weather,” says Megan.  However, she also says that using the new techniques she’s acquired, she’s still harvesting three or four times more peppers per tree than before.

“We are living the reality of climate change. Plant breeding and plant adaptation means selecting those crops with resilient traits such as drought tolerance, heat tolerance, salt tolerance etc,” says Alex. “The varieties selected or bred with these traits will give an advantage to the farmer in terms of production, productivity and maintenance cost.”  Continue Reading