From chilli chocolate to Naga coffee, entrepreneurs work towards making Northeast’s exotic produce popular

From avoiding wastage to expanding product appeal, the entrepreneurs are forging ahead with capitalising on the Northeast's flavours

Till a coffee expert from South Africa informed him in 2016 about the unique “citrus and fruity” flavours of coffee grown in Nagaland, Vivito Yeptho didn’t consider it anything special.

“He told me that people outside would love this unique taste, and Nagaland coffee can be a new brand. That’s when I decided to tie up with our farmers and promote Naga coffee outside (of the state),” Vivito, who co-founded Nagaland Coffee Private Limited in 2017, told DH.

A post-graduate in international marketing from Cardiff University, Vivito, now 33, opened a cafe in the state’s commercial town, Dimapur, and started selling single-origin estate coffee. He gradually focussed more on branding Naga coffee, and was now selling to customers outside.

“The consumers outside are liking the different taste Naga coffee offerings. We are now sending the products (selling it online) to Delhi, Bangalore and even to South Africa, Bahrain, Dubai and in some European nations like Netherland, Germany and Italy," he said.

Read | Now, sip a cup of gold or 'bhoot jolokia' chilli tea

Similarly, another local food item—the Naga chilli or bhut jolokia—went to waste in huge quantities until Zeinorin Stephen from Manipur’s Ukhrul district did something about it.

Stephen, who grew up seeing one of the hottest chillies in the world—the bhut jolokia or the ghost pepper was certified the hottest chilli pepper in the world in 2007 till it was superseded—going to waste due to the to lack of proper marketing and fruitful initiatives for producing value-added products.

In an effort to prevent more such waste, Zeinorn and her partner Leiyolan Vashum formed a start-up Hill Wild, and began making chocolates with cocoa brought from Pune and locally grown organic products such as bhut jolokia, pumpkin seeds and plum wine.

“Consumers, both in the Northeast and outside, are liking the unique chocolates infused with hot chilli. Pumpkin seeds and the plums are often fed to the pigs or get rotten. So, we decided to make chocolates with these items too. Now it feels good to see consumers liking the exotic products grown in our backyard. It also feels good to see our farmers getting better prices too,” Zeinorn told DH from Ukhrul.

“The demand for the chocolates goes up during festive seasons like Valentine Day and Diwali,” she said. Hill Wild, so far, has been working with over 2,000 farmers across Manipur. “We want our products to have the feel of an unexplored Northeast so that people outside can taste the uniqueness of our region,” she said.

Vivito and Zeinorn are just two of the many young entrepreneurs in the Northeast who have braved challenges to source and promote the exotic products organically grown on the hills and plains. Apart from the Naga coffee and bhut jolokia, similar locally grown products that the young entrepreneurs are trying to market include kiwi wine of Arunachal Pradesh, Lakadong turmeric and wild honey of Meghalaya, jackfruits of Assam and bamboo biscuits of Tripura.

In 2017, Tage Rita, an entrepreneur in Arunachal Pradesh launched Nara Aaba, India’s first brand of kiwi wine in 2017. She set up a winery to produce wine from kiwis grown on the hills of Ziro valley in Arunachal Pradesh. “Nara Aaba has so far got a lot of love from consumers due to its unique taste. It has also provided a local market and good price to our kiwi growers,” Rita said recently. Kiwis grown on the hills of Arunachal Pradesh have good demand due to their sweetness, flavour and size.

Grown on the hills of Meghalaya, Lakadong turmeric is also getting a lot of attention and product value—mainly due to its high level of curcumin. The demand for Lakadong turmeric has grown since the Covid-19 pandemic, as curcumin is believed to have elements to increase immunity. “The response of the consumers has been very good so far,” said Upasana Das, founder of Sreejha Organics Private Limited, a start-up based in Guwahati. “But sourcing packaging materials is still a major problem," Das said.