ChilliProj

School Science Lessons
Chilli Project
2012-05-12 SPwp
Please send comments to: J.Elfick@uq.edu.au

Preface
Before teaching this project, discuss the content of the lessons with a field officer of the Ministry of
Agriculture and get advice on planting material, planting distances, the local field officer of the Ministry
of Agriculture. If you cannot control insects by hand-picking, ask the Ministry of Agriculture to
recommend a chemical spray. All insect sprays are dangerous. Be able to demonstrate the safe use of
sprays. Do not get the spray onto your hands. Do not breathe in the spray. Wash your hands well after
using spray. Keep the spray container in a safe place under lock and key. Spray on a day of no wind
but if you must spray when there is a wind, spray down wind. Make sure the spray does not blow on
other people.

Table of contents
Capsaicin
1.0 Introduction to the chilli project
2.0 Plant chilli seed in a nursery
3.0 Care for chilli seedlings
4.0 Prepare the land for a chilli garden
5.0 Study chilli plants before transplanting
6.0 Transplant chilli plants into the chilli garden
7.0 Care for plants in the chilli garden
8.0 Pests and diseases of chilli plants
9.0 Study the mature chilli plant, flowers and fruit
10.0 Harvest, dry and store the chilli crop
10a.0 Drying and storing
11.0 Selling the chilli crop
12.0 Chilli crop report
13.0 Income from chilli project
13a.0 Crop report, profits from growing chillies
14.0 Visit another chilli garden
15.0 Cooking with chillies
16.0: Understanding the records

Preface
The aim of the chilli project is to teach how to grow chillies as a cash crop. Before you start this chilli
project discuss it with the headmaster and agriculture field staff, and show them these Agriculture
Teaching Notes. Do not start the project unless you can be sure that you can sell the chilli crop. Ask the
agriculture field staff to supply you with the correct seed. Start the project so that you can commence
picking chillies after 5-6 months, when the weather is dryer. Land for the chilli garden chilli plants should
be well drained, dug over and not recently used for growing chilli plants or tomatoes. The red or sweet
peppers are Capsicum annuum. The bird chillies are Capsicum frutescens. You will need:
1. About 4 handfuls of a large variety (e.g. "Indian" or "Long Red") and you may also wish to grow a
small variety (e.g. "Tabasco"). These chillies should be newly picked with a smooth round shape and be
bright red.
2. An area of land about 7 metres × 7 metres with good well drained soil, not too far away.
3. About 1 kilogram of muriate of potash (KCl) fertilizer, or IBDU
4. About 1 litre of Malathion 50 insecticide. 5. String and metric rule or tape
5. Gardening tools, spades, hoes and a rake
6. Small hand spray pump
7. New copra sacks (or plastic bags) in about 5 months time.

Capsaicin
See: Capsaicin group of alkaloids: 16.3.6.2.13
Treat the burning feeling from chillies, "curry overdose", with 1. milk, 2. fruit juice, 3. milk chocolate,
4. lots of water, 5. a weak solution of sodium bicarbonate. Treat capsaicin in the eyes with lots of cold
water. Chilli fruit contain a substance called capsaicin (methyl vanillyl nonenamide) mainly in pithy regions
around the seeds and internal membranes which can sting the lips and eyes, causing an intense burning
sensation that may be relieved by drinking full fat milk, (creamy milk). The burning sensation is not
caused by temperature and the membranes affected are not at a higher temperature. The burning
sensation is just a chemical irritation that affect the heat-sensitive cells in the mucous membranes of the
mouth and nose. However, birds are not affected by capsaicin. Do not touch the lips or eyes with the
fingers after touching the chillies. The amount of heat is expressed in Scoville Heat Units (SHUs) named
after American chemist Wilbur L. Scoville in 1902. The scale was based on the experience of tasters
with bell peppers have a score of zero. So the degree of hotness depended on the required dilution until
the chilli no longer felt hot. If pure capsaicin is 15 million to 17 million SHUs, Tabasco sauce is 2,500 to
5000 SHUs, Jalapeno peppers is 2500 to 8000 but Naga Jolokia. (Bhut Jolokkia, Ghost Chilki) from
India and Bangladesh is 855,000 to over 1 million SHUs! Bell peppers have a value of zero because
they are homozygous recessive and lack the dominant gene for capsaicin production. Galapagos and
cayenne varieties may vary from 3 500 to 35 000 SHUs, ripe tabasco peppers may have 50 000 SHUs
and habanero peppers 200 000 to 300 000 SHUs. A pepper spray unit may have a SHU rating of two
million. Commercially ground chilli powder has between 8 000 and 10 000 Scoville units. Capsaicin is an
oil, insoluble in water but soluble in fats and alcohol so if your mouth is burnt by chillies, drink milk, not
water! Chillies feel hot in the mouth at room temperature because the capsaicin "tricks" the brain into
thinking that something is very hot in the mouth when it is not. It is the natural protection and dispersal
mechanism of the chilli plant to attract herbivores to eat its attractive fruits then spit out the seeds with the
attached capsaicin. Dry chilli powder can catch alight by spontaneous combustion. The five species of
Capsicum peppers native to the New World are C. pubescens, C. baccatum, C. annuum,
C. frutescens and C. chinense.
The relative hotness of some varieties is as follows: Anaheim 2, Jalapeno 5, Purple delight 6, Siam 7,
Cayenne 8, Bell 9 (ornamental), Thai Rainbow (pot plant) 7, Birdseye 9, Habanero and Tepin 10+.
The hottest chile peppers belong the C. chinense group, including the habanero probably from the
Amazon river region of South America. The active ingredient is the alkaloid capsaicin. Capsaicin is not
broken down during the digestion process. Capsaicin is soluble in fats but not in water, so drinking
water does not lessen the pain of a hot chilli mouth but drinking milk or yoghurt may reduce the pain.
Capsaicin may discourage mammalian fruit predators. However, many birds are immune to the burning
sensation of capsaicin, and may disperse the seeds. Some fruit eating birds who are attracted to bright
red fruits and can let the seeds pass through the digestive tract unharmed and disperse them to other
regions. The highest capsaicin concentration is found in the placental region where the seeds are attached.
Liquid chromatography is used to measure the concentration of capsaicin in Scoville heat units. In general,
the hot species or varieties, usually Capsicum annuum, are called chilli, chillies, chilli peppers, hot
peppers (chilli or chile peppers in USA) chile and guindilla, but the species or varieties that are not hot are
called capsicums, bell peppers, peppers, sweet peppers, green peppers, red peppers, pimiento, ají. A
recent report suggests that some people who died after police had sprayed them with pepper spray
containing capsaicin had recently taken cocaine. So capsaicin may react with cocaine to produce a lethal
effect. However, the pepper spray used by police may be 2,000,000 to 5,300,000 on the Scoville scale
that people with respiratory conditions, e.g. asthma, may die if the irritated mucous membranes of the
respiratory passages may swell enough if inflamed to cause death. Compounds similar to capsaicin that
also occur in chillies include dihydrocapsaicin, homocapsaicin, homodihydrocapsaicin, norhydrocapsaicin,
and nonivamide.

1.0 Introduction to the chilli project
See diagram 54.1: Chilli fruit
1. Bring some chillies to the classroom or visit a nearby chilli garden.

1. Chillies are spice plants used to make food taste hot. Spices are used to give a special taste to food
and to improve the flavour. Other examples of spice are turmeric, black pepper, vanilla and cardamom.
2. Chillies belong to the Solanaceae family of plants that include the Irish potato, tomato, and eggplant.
So capsicums, red peppers and chillies are related plants. All are protective foods containing vitamins
and can used as a medicine.
3. Capsicum annum includes the large sweet peppers and some which are hot. Capsicums have a large
fruit with a mild sweet flavour and can be eaten raw or cooked.
4. Capsicum frutescens is the name of the smaller and hotter "bird" chillies including the varieties Indian,
Long Red, Tabasco and Birds Eye. Indian or Long Red, which look like long red fingers hanging down
from the bush, have a hot taste and are used by people overseas to make red cayenne pepper. Tabasco,
which looks like small cones or fingertips pointing up from the bush, has a very hot taste and is used to
make chilli sauce for Chinese food.
5. Chillies are usually grown as a cash crop. Capsicums can be planted directly but red peppers and
chillies are usually sown in a seed bed and later transplanted. Agriculture field staff can advise you on
how best to grow the chillies and sell them.
6. Break open the wall of the fruit and see the seeds inside. Do not taste the chillies or put your fingers
near their eyes. Most red peppers and chillies are too hot to eat raw or cooked.

2.0 Plant chilli seed in a nursery
See diagram 54.2: Chilli nursery
You will need the following:
1. Five handfuls of recently dried chillies selected for good seed or packets of imported seed
2. Spades, hoes, forks and a rake, watering can
3. Tape measure or rule, and string
4. Materials for shading the seed bed, e.g. coconut palm leaves, four Y-shaped uprights, two poles
about 2 metres long and many sticks 1 metre long.
5. A crop diary to record all the information about the project, e.g. where you got the seeds, when
sown, when transplanted, who did certain jobs, dates and amounts for each picking. This information
could be copied on the notice board in a section labelled "Chilli project".
5. A small piece of land about 2 × 1 metres near the classroom which has a good topsoil in a well
drained position.

1. Select the best chillies that have a smooth rounded shape and a deep red colour. Remove the seeds
and dry them in the sun.
2. Mark out the 2 metres × 1 metre rectangle for the seed bed, then dig the soil deeply. Make the seed
bed where you can find dark topsoil that drains easily and where chilli, tomato or eggplants have not
grown before. The dark topsoil contains rotted plant material which provides plant foods and holds water
for the plant. The loose soil allows roots to grow down easily and also holds air for the roots to breathe.
Make the top 5 cm of the seed bed as ½ sand and ½ soil mixed together. Dig up the soil then rake flat to
make a fine even seed bed raised above the ground.
3. Put sticks in the ground at each end, 15 cm apart. Tie string between the sticks. Use the handle of a
rake to make a shallow furrow 1 cm deep. Sprinkle the seeds evenly along each furrow, one cm apart,
then cover with light soil. Water along each furrow then press down lightly on top with a flat board.
4. Dig holes for the four Y-shaped uprights. Fix the uprights in the ground. Make a roof with sticks then
put on the leaf shade.
5. Write in the crop diary: date, teacher's name and class, where seeds obtained, number of chillies used
for seed, number of rows planted. List the names of who will water and check the chillies each day.
6. Visit the seed bed every day.

3.0 Care for chilli seedlings
See diagram 54.1: Germinating seeds
1. Visit the nursery each day and record when the seedlings appear.
2. Before this lesson dig up some seeds and see if they have germinated. Note the time from planting to
germinating, in your crop diary.
3. Bring some germinated seeds to the classroom.

1. Observe the germinating seeds in the chilli nursery.
2. Germination occurs when a seed grows into a young plant called a seedling. A germinating seed
needs: 1. water 2. air in the soil 3. shade.
3. Rules for looking after the young plants:
3.1 Water along rows every day.
3.2 Thin the plants so that the nearest are 10 cm apart. Use plenty of water after thinning because the
soil has become loose.
3.3 Harden the plants by taking away ½ the shade after 6 weeks and the rest of the shade after 8 weeks.
3.4 Throw away the weak seedlings so you can transplant the best strong seedlings.
3.5 During the 6 to 8 weeks after planting the seed in the nursery, gradually take off the shade to harden
the plants before transplanting.

4.0 Prepare land for a chilli garden
See 6.9.6 Preparing ground | See diagram 54.2: Chilli garden | See 9.14.0: Composting
1. Visit the nursery every day and write down any special observations in the crop diary.
2. Avoid selecting land where other plants of the family Solanaceae (e.g. tomato, eggplant, other chilli
plants) were growing.
3. Do your land preparation in week 2 so you will be ready when it is time to transplant about 7 weeks
after sowing the seed.
4. You will need bush knives, spades, forks, hoes, rakes, string, sticks for corner pegs.
5. Cut out and burn any wild chilli bushes growing near the project to prevent pollen from the wild plants
fertilizing your plants and producing the wrong sort of fruit. Make sure that the job is completed and all
bush plants are removed to a compost heap.

1. Land for a chilli project should have well drained soil. The land should not have been a garden
growing Irish potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, or other chillies. This is because these plants are in the same
plant family and get similar pests and diseases.
2. The land should be cleared and hoed. The cleared bushes and grass should be put in a heap for mulch.
3. Spacing is 75 cm apart within rows and 150 cm apart between rows.
4. Draw the positions of 32 plants in 4 rows of 8 plants. If you allow a border of 75 cm, the area will be
(75 × 7) + 75 + 75 long = 6.75 metres, and (150 × 3) + 75 + 75 cm wide = 6.0 metres. So you will
need 7 metres × 6 metres = 42 square metres. Calculate the area of the chilli garden.

1. Go to two places, one well drained, and one badly drained where water can collect in pools when it
rains. Dig a soil profile at each place. Feel the soil at different depths. Which place is suitable for chillies?
2. Mark a square area 7 × 7 metres for the chilli garden. Use hoes to mark the edge of the area.
3. Clear the ground and make a pile of the cleared bush outside the square area.
4. Dig up or hoe the whole area thoroughly.
5. Extra activity. Leave corner pegs in ground. Mark out 1 metre on the ground and practice a pace of 1
metre. Then they try to pace the length of the chilli plot, 7 metres, with the eyes shut.

5.0 Study chilli plants before transplanting
See diagram 54.5: Plant study, the young plant
1. This lesson can be taught 6-8 weeks after planting the seed.
2. Dig up some young plants and wash the roots. Bring a magnifying glass to the classroom.

1. Examine young plants in the classroom. See the following: 1. roots, shoot, and leaves 2. leaf, axils,
terminal bud 3. tap root lateral roots, root hairs. Use a magnifying glass to see the root hairs.
2. The young plant above the ground is a shoot. The branch formed from an axillary bud is called a lateral shoot. If terminal bud increases length of shoot, then plant grows taller. If terminal bud forms a flower then fruit (or it is cut off) then axillary buds form branches and the plant becomes bushy.
3. Draw and label the young plant.

6.0 Transplant chilli plants into the chilli garden
1. You will need the following:
1.1 32 healthy plants
1.2 Dull wet afternoon, or provide temporary shade for the transplants using coconut leaves
1.3 Spades or trowels to dig up the seedlings
1.4 Box to carry seedlings if it is a long way between nursery and chilli garden
1.5 About 350 grams of muriate of potash fertilizer
1.6 Tools to cut out the regrowth since you made the chilli garden
1.7 String and rule or tape measure
1.8 Crop diary to write the details of the transplanting.
2. Transplant when 10 weeks old. One week before transplanting cut off the terminal bud to make the
plant grow bushy. Select only the strongest plants. 3. Before transplanting, think carefully about how you
will carry the seedlings, and collect some mulch.

1. Clear the chilli garden of any regrowth.
2. Select only healthy plants for transplanting. Water around roots of selected plants.
3. Mark out the chilli garden for 4 rows of 8 plants each 75 cm apart within rows and 1.5 metres apart
between rows. Chillies can be planted closer at 50 cm apart. You can draw a map and calculate how
many seedlings you will need to transplant or how much land to prepare for the available
seedlings. Put a little stick where each plant will be.
4. Dig holes and fill them with water.
5. Dig up plants from nursery, with plenty of damp soil so as not to damage roots. Try to not touch the
plant with your fingers. Plant out with same depth in soil as in nursery. Press soil down around plant, and
water. Put mulch on soil but not near the plants because mulch may carry disease. If the sun is very hot
give each plant some temporary shade using coconut leaf.
6. Label each transplant to allow for individual care and observation.
7. Sprinkle about 1 matchbox of muriate of potash (KCl) fertilizer around each plant at least 10 cm from
each stem. These plants need more potash (K) than they can get from the soil. A matchbox or 4 heaped
teaspoons contains about 20 g of fertilizer.
8. After transplanting, visit the transplants plants every day to water and care for them.

7.0 Care for plants in the chilli garden
1. Inspect the garden at least once each week for the following tasks:
1.1 Replace any weak plants from the nursery.
1.2 Add more mulch around the plants. It should not touch the plants.
1.3 Note any weeds and pull them all out and burn them.
1.4 Note any damage by animals, insects or any disease.
1.5 Prune the main stems of any leaves and small branches below the fruit so the stems look clean.
2. The chillies will be ready for first picking when 5 to 6 months old.

8.0 Pests and diseases of chilli plants
If plants are suffering from serious pests or diseases they should be pulled out and burnt rather than be
treated with insecticide or fungicide. Do not leave diseased plants in the garden. Examine the chilli bushes
for pests or diseases every week.
1. There are two main pests and diseases but you may discover more. If so tell the Department of
Agriculture field staff.
2. The small scale insect Pulvinaria looks like small rounded spots on the stem. This insect is one of the
Hemiptera which feed by sucking through their long thin mouth parts. In the scale insects the tiny males
have two wings but the females have no wings and have a soft sticky body. They suck up juices from the
plant. Sometimes a black fungus appears where they are feeding. This can be controlled by spraying with
the insecticide Malathion 50. The rate is 8 mL or 2 teaspoons of Malathion 50 in 2 litres of water. Aphids,
scales and thrips can be controlled with a mixture of pyrethrum and white oil.
3. Collar rot is caused by a white fungus found in the soil and organic matter. If you keep the mulch at
least 10 cm away from where the stem enters the ground this may prevent the chilli getting collar rot. The
fungus, probably called Rhizoctonia or Sclerotinia, grows into the stem and later produces a brown
fruiting body containing spores. The stem of the chilli plant will turn black then rot, then the leaves wilt and
the whole plant dies. If the leaves wilt in your chillies pull out the plants and burn them. Then treat healthy
plants by soaking the soil around each stem with a soil fungicide such as Purasoil 75. The rate is 40 mL of
Purasoil in 7 litres of water. This is enough to treat 32 plants.
4. Root knot nematode is usually a problem only in poor soils so add plenty of organic matter, compost
and manure, before planting.
5. Bacterial spot can be controlled with a copper-based spray but avoid overhead watering.
6. For fruit fly se fruit fly traps to monitor the population and spray with an organic fruit fly spray.
7. Blossom end rot can be avoided by adding dolomite to the soil before planting.
8. If the fruit are allowed to go rotten they will be infected by a Pepper Maggot, so keep your bushes
well-picked and clean.
9. Chickens can damage chillies by pecking the fruit and scratching away the soil.

1. There are two main pests and diseases, scale insects and fungus.
2. The scale insects look like small soft round lumps on the stem. A black fungus may also be there The
lumps are really the wingless females which have a soft sticky body, long thin mouth parts
3. The fungus causes a disease called collar rot. It attacks the stem near the ground then the leaves wilt
and the plant dies. The fungus may come from the mulch so keep mulch away from the chilli stems. If the
leaves wilt from collar rot, pull out the bush and burn it. Protect uninfected bushes pouring Purasoil 75
fungicide into the soil around each stem. Use 40 mL in 7 litres of water for 32 plants.

Looking for pests and diseases
1. It is important to look at crop plants regularly to check whether there are any pests and diseases. Use a
magnifying glass.
2. Not all insects are the enemies of the plants, they may eat some of the pests that eat the plant, e.g. a
small wasp eats scale insects. For this reason it is not always a good idea to use insecticides because you
will kill the good insects with the bad.
3. Besides regular attention to the plants, make accurate observations and recording by clear drawings.

1. Go to the chilli garden with their notebooks and pencils.
2. Search each bush carefully for pests and diseases.
3. Make a collection of any pests and diseases and then the students should draw them carefully
including the part of the plant on which they were found. Be careful to note whether the insects really
harm the plant. They may be stray or even useful insects.
4. If necessary treat the plants with insecticide or fungicide.
5. Burn any diseased plants and replace them with healthy plants.

9.0 Study the mature chilli plant, flowers and fruit
See diagram 54.9.1: Branch with flower and fruit | See diagram 54.9.2: Chilli flower
See diagram 54.5: Indian Long Red chilli
1. This kind of chilli plant is called Capsicum frutescens. It is a perennial shrub or bush which bears
fruit for several years. The branching is difficult to understand because flower stalks remain in the main
stem so that the flowers appear not to come from the nodes. Perennial means living and bearing fruit for
more than one year. A shrub is a small bushy plant.
2. The leaves are almost oval in shape and pointed. They may fall off the older parts of the stem leaving
scale marks.
3. Make accurate observations on the positions of the flowers, fruit and leaves, and also the shape and
colour of the leaves.
4. Study small pieces of fruiting branches in the class room.
4.1 Note the stem, leaf, flower, bud, fruit.
4.2 Draw one leaf to show shape and leaf veins. Label mid vein in the middle, and lateral veins at the
sides.
4.3 Draw and label 3 to 4 nodes of a branch to show arrangement of stem, flowers, and fruit.
5. Study of flowers and fruit
5.1 Collect flowers and fruit.
5.2 Starting from the stalk there is a wide base called receptacle. These flowers have a green calyx of 5
sepals joined together at their base. The calyx remains when the chilli fruit forms. The sepals were the
leaves of the flower bud, they protected the young flower parts.
5.3 The flower petals together are called the corolla. Each petal is greenish, or yellowish white in colour.
The petals attract insects which will bring pollen from other chilli flowers to fertilize the female part of the
flower.
5.4 Pollen comes from the male parts of the plant called the stamens. One stamen is usually attached to
the base of each petal.
5.5 The pollen is carried to the female part in the centre of each flower. Where this swells out at the base
is called the ovary. It has two compartments called carpels.
5.6 Inside the carpels, attached to the centre, are ovules which form seeds after pollen from the
male part is carried to the female part.
6. Summary
The chilli flower contains 1 receptacle upon which are as follows:
5 sepals in the calyx, green
5 petals in the corolla, white
5 stamens of the male part
2 carpels stuck together to form the ovary in the female part.
7. Summary
The chilli fruit contains:
7.1 swollen ovary wall (green then red when seeds ripen)
7.2. many seeds in the ovary which is made of 2 carpels attached to the fruit are the broken stalk,
receptacle and calyx.
8. Chilli fruit are picked by breaking the stalk.
9. Flower and fruit

In the flower	In the fruit
Receptacle (base for other parts)	Receptacle remains + broken stalk
Sepals (bud leaves)	Sepals remain
Petals (attract insects)	Petals die
Stamens, male parts	Stamens die
Ovary, if fertilized / not fertilized	Ovary becomes the fruit / ovary dies if not fertilized

9.1. The stamen consists of the anther containing the pollen, and a little stalk called the filament. The
female part consists of the sticky stigma where the pollen lands, the style tube which the pollen grows
down, and the ovary containing the ovules which the pollen fertilize to become seeds.
9.2 Another way to draw a flower is a half flower diagram. You need a sharp razor blade. Cut the stalk
down the middle, then the receptacle, then the calyx, then the ovary, until the whole flower is cut in two.
Now you can see the tiny ovules which will become seeds inside the fruit after fertilization by the pollen.
How many ovules are there in an ovary?

10.0 Harvest, dry and store the chilli crop
See diagram 54.9.1: Branch with flowers and fruit, Tabasco chillies
1. Do not put the fingers near the mouth or eyes after handling chillies. Picking and drying chillies can be
a very boring task but it must be done properly to produce a good quality export crop. It is very
important to produce export crops of good quality because then overseas people will pay high prices
for them.
2. There are different ways to motivate students to pick and dry chillies properly:
2.1. Ask the students about the importance of good quality chillies for the village people who want a
cash income.
2.2. Show the correct methods very carefully and explain the reasons for the methods. If you do this the
students will know that correct methods are important.
2.3. Develop a spirit of competition between students so that each student is trying to do better than the
others, both in amount picked and good quality of the picked crop. You could give rewards to students
who do well in this, but do not use chilli picking as punishment for bad behaviour. If each child looks
after and picks his or her "own" chilli bush they will have pride in their work.
3. It is best to pick on warm dry afternoons or late morning.
4. Prepare some sodium bicarbonate solution to treat chilli burns.
4.1 Each student should pick only his or her own chilli bush and keep the picked fruit separate from the
others. Warn the students about chilli burns.
4.2 Each student picks only the red smooth fruit and places the pickings in a separate basket. Pick by
breaking the stalk. The stalk and calyx will be removed later.
5. After about 5 months show the students how to pick the fruit without damaging the plant.
6. Keep the garden weeded and keep picking every two weeks, The small chillies can be dried in the sun
or in a chilli dryer.
7. When all the good fruit is picked then pick off all the damaged or badly coloured fruit and burn them.
8. Each student should measure the amount of chillies he or she picked, with stalks on. The chillies should
be left to dry in the sun then stored in a dry place overnight.
9. The teacher should arrange for. the chilli bushes to be picked properly once a week from now on.
Extra Activity: Visit to a chilli dryer.

10a.0 Drying and storing
1. Agriculture field staff can show you how to build a hot air drier. It consists of a wire screen over a
drum oven with a chimney. 2. You can try drying chillies in the sun on mats. The mats should be on a
raised platform or frame. Chillies can be dried on an iron roof, but don't forget about them when it rains!
3. Prepare to bring some wet chillies which are affected by mould fungus. This shows the students what
picked chillies should not look like. 4. Prepare to bring some well dried chillies which are quite stiff and
can bend. 5. Prepare to bring some over dried chillies which can break into small pieces.

1. Each student brings in his or her partly dried chillies. The stalks and calyx should be removed and any
damaged or diseased fruits thrown away. Show the students some chillies affected by mould
2. Picked chillies must be dried or they will be attacked by diseases such as mould fungus. The stalks and
calyx can stop attack by the mould fungus but these may be removed before selling. 3. Chillies must be
dried until they become stiff and can still bend but not break into pieces. 4. Store dried chillies in clean
copra sacks or plastic bags. Before selling pick out any which are mouldy or badly coloured. Store chillies
on a platform in a clean dry shed.

11.0 Selling the chilli crop
Marketing
1. The student must understand what happens to the chilli crop when it is sold. The teacher can bring
about this understanding in two ways as set out in 2. and 3. 2. Explain the steps in the chain of
commerce: farmer, buyer, transporter, exporter, overseas
transporter, overseas importer, factory, consumer. Can you answer the following questions:
Who buys the chillies? What is the price?
Who transports them to the main port?
Who exports them from the main port?
Who transports them overseas?
Who imports them overseas?
What factory processes them? (The importer and factory may be the same.)
Who uses or consumes the chillies? What do they use them for?
3. When you are ready to sell the chillies make sure that the students see them being sold, know who the
buyer is, and see any financial documents such as receipts of the sale.

1. Village people sell their farm produce in the local market but chillies are sold on the international market
to buyers overseas. The steps in this marketing are like a chain.
2. Ask the students where the chillies go to, then tell them about the steps of the chain and who the people
are in these steps.
3. The first step after the farmer is the buyer. Write down the name and address of buyer, price paid, and
copy the receipt on to the chalkboard.
4. What is the function of a market? How is an international market different from a local village market?
How do prices change in the village market compared with prices in the international market?

12.0 Chilli crop report
1. It is important to teach the students to analyse the chilli project by using records in their notebooks and
in the teacher's crop diary to produce a report on the yield and income of the chilli project.
2. This analysis will mean more to the student if it is possible to involve records of his or her own chilli
bush and harvest. You will have to decide which data to use and when to collect final data for yield.
The data of a crop report is all the information about the important happenings and measurements during
the project. When growing crops in the modern way to get maximum crop yield and maximum profit you
need accurate data in a crop report. Continual harvesting and regular watering during the warmer months
will encourage more setting of fruit.
The following data can be used in the report:
2.1 Date seeds planted and number of student hours of work to build nursery.
2.2 Date transplanted and number of student hours of work to transplant.
3. Record the following:
3.1 Date and amount of first picking (student's own bush)
3.2. Total pickings (student's own bush) call this "total wet weight"
4. Record the following:
4.1 Date and amount of first picking (all bushes)
4.2 Date and amount of second picking (all bushes)
4.3 Date and amount of third picking (all bushes)
4.4 Total pickings (all bushes) call this total wet weight
4.5 Total dried weight (student's own bush)
4.6 Total dried weight (all bushes)
4.7 Total number of student hours for maintenance and picking (student's own bush)
4.8 Total number of student hours for maintenance and pickings (all bushes).

13.0 Income from chilli project
1. The chilli project takes a long time from planting seeds to selling. The student must be able to see the
project as a whole. This can be done by writing a report based on their records and experiences.
2. There are different ways listed below of summarizing the project so that it can be compared to other
projects. Select the calculations you wish to apply to your project:
2.1 Percentage dry weight. (Expect 33% for Tabasco variety and 25% for Indian or Long Red variety)
percentage dry weight = (Total dry weight / Total wet weight) × 100 = per cent
2.2 Gross income (Selling prices vary, but for this exercise assume that selling price of Tabasco variety
is 48 cents / kilogram, and for Indian or Long Red variety is 26 cents/kilogram.)
Gross income = Total dry weight × 48 (Tabasco) / 1 00 = $. or
Gross income = Total dry weight × 26 (Indian Long Red) / 100 = $.
2.3 Production per bush,
Total dry weight / number of bushes =. Kg/bush
2.4 Production per hectare (per ha) (at this spacing of bushes)
Total dry weight × 100 × 100 Kg / hectare (11 ha 100 × 100 metres)
area of chilli garden in square metres
2.5 Income per hectare
Production per hectare × 48 (Tabasco) $ / hectare
Production per hectare × 26 (Indian Long Red) = $ per hectare
2.6 Income per student, day (assume that a student can work for 8 hours in one day)
Gross income × 8 / Total student hours worked = $ per student hour worked
(Total student hours worked includes time planting, transplanting, garden maintenance, picking, drying
and storing.)
3.1 Inputs: Land used, seeds, labour, fertilizer, insecticide
Output: chillies (as yield in Kg or as returns in $)
3.2 To know how much of each input is needed to produce the output, divide the output by different
items of the input.
4. Ask students to suggest the following:
4.1. how to measure output
4.2 how to measure how much of each item of input is needed.
5. When you grow crops the modern way you keep records of inputs into the farm and the output of the
farm. Then you can measure how much of each input is needed to produce the output.
6. Teacher tells students to calculate output and some measurements of how much of each input is
needed to produce the output.

13a. Crop report, profits from growing chillies
1. Calculate the profit of chilli projects as with a vegetable project. However, the chilli project takes much
longer so you have to apply what figures you have to estimate the profit.
1.1 Returns: The money you receive for the chillies (output)
1.2 Costs: The money you pay for all the things you need in the project (input)
Establishment costs are the total costs of things you can use for a long time. Assume that things bought
under the heading of establishment costs will last 5 years. Therefore the yearly cost of these things is
cost / 5. This is called depreciation.
Production costs are the total costs of things that you use up in the project.
1.3. Profit: The money left over when you take costs from returns
2. Fill in the following table:
Returns $
Production costs $
seeds $
fertilizer $
insecticide $
tractor hire $
labour $
Establishment costs
nursery $
tools $
drier $
bags $
(Profit = Returns - Production costs - Establishment costs)
Calculate the profit for the period from start of project to last harvest.
3. However, if you assume that the chilli bushes can produce good crops for 2 ½ years then calculate
the estimated profit for the 3 years when the land is being used for the project.

14.0 Visit another chilli garden
1. Arrange for the class to visit a nearby chilli garden.
2. You must visit the chilli project yourself first, tell the owners when you will be coming with the class,
and think about what observations you will require the students to make when they go there.
3. Make up a list of questions which can be duplicated so that the students can take this with them and
know what to look for.
4. Introduce the students to the owners of the chilli garden.
5. Record the answers to the following questions:
5.1 Who owns the chilli crop and who does the work on the project?
5.2 What help did the agriculture field staff give?
5.3 Where did the seed come from? Was a nursery used? When did they plant out? What spacing was
used?
5.4 Count the chilli bushes? What area of land was used?
5.5 Are there any weeds, pests diseases? How are they treated?
5.5 When did picking start? What was the yield or wet weight? How are the chillies dried? What yield,
dry weight? How are they sold? What prices do they bring?
6. Let the village people tell the students the answers to the questions in their own language. Later you
could ask agriculture field staff to answer questions when the village people do not know the answers.
7. Compare information about this chilli garden with information about the chilli project at school.

15.0 Cooking with chillies
1. Some people say that chillies are a very healthy food because there are so many vitamins in them.
Chillies are used in many countries to give a special taste to food. Why not teach students how to eat
them? Some people called "chilli lovers" say that chillies are addictive. If this is so it may be because
chillies cause the body to release endorphins causing a mild euphoria.
2. You must be very careful when teaching students to handle chillies. The seeds and inside ribs can sting
the mouth and eyes. Never let children touch their eyes after handling chillies. If they do handle them,
wash with a weak sodium bicarbonate solution to stop the stinging. Chillies can be made less hot by
soaking in cold salt water for half an hour before using. 4. Bring some fresh and dried chillies to the
lesson in the kitchen.
3. Cooking Chillies
3.1 Chillies in vinegar
Drop some fresh chillies into a jar of vinegar and screw the top on tightly. After about ten days you can
try tasting the soaked chillies.
3.2 Preparing chillies for cooking
Wash the chillies. Fill a bowl with water and working under water pull out stalks, break chillies in half, rub
out seeds and inside ribs with fingers. Keep the chilli walls only. Leave torn pieces of chillies soaked in
water before use.
3.3 Chilli sauce
Make many different chilli sauces by chopping or pounding chillies by hand (or using a kitchen blender)
with any of the following: onion, ginger, lemon juice, vinegar, coconut milk, salt. When this becomes a
hick paste pour into a jar, cover with peanut oil, then put the lid on tightly and leave for half a day before
use. Chinese people use chilli sauce by cutting pork or beef into pieces, frying it, then they dip each piece
into chilli sauce before eating.
3.4 Chicken and vegetable soup
1 chicken cut into pieces 1 piece of chopped pumpkin
2 litres water handful of beans or peas
4 chopped tomatoes 2 teaspoons of salt
2 chopped baby corn 2 fresh chillies already chopped
4 chopped yams or sweet potatoes with seeds and ribs removed
Bring chicken in water to boil, skim off foam and scum, simmer on low heat for 45 minutes. Add all
vegetables and salt, simmer on low heat for 20 minutes until yam or sweet potato is just cooked. You
could try adding chillies to other soups or stews.
3.5 Pepper wine
Wash large whole chillies, put in screw jar then pour rum over them and screw the top on tightly. After ten
days use for flavouring soups.
4. Tabasco sauce is made from chillies ground with salt and vinegar then aged in oak barrels. Sambal
paste used in Malaysia is made from crushed chillies cured in salt.

History
These teaching materials were originally written and illustrated by Mr J. A. Sutherland, Faculty of
Education, University of New England, Armidale, Australia and later edited by Dr J. Elfick, School of
Education, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.