Bush pepper: A new generation urban spice crop

Black pepper is an important spice crop of India. Black pepper is also known as Kurumulaku in Malayalam and Kalimirch in Hindi. Black pepper is having great socio-economic importance as well. India is known to have a highest area of black pepper all over the world. India was a dominant producer, supplier and consumer of black pepper in the world context. But in the last few decades there are some newly emerging countries which is the major competitor in global context. At present the productivity in India is very low due to non-adoption of good agricultural practices. Unlike most other spices, bush pepper is not a space consuming crop. Besides being planted in pots, it can also be intercropped with coconut or mango crops. Most importantly, unlike black pepper vines, bush pepper gives berries all year round.