In The Spotlight: Mexico Hot Pepper Innovation
09 April 2025, Mexico: The dynamic and fast-growing hot pepper sector in Mexico presents new opportunities and challenges for growers and food processors.
Hot peppers are grown year-round in open fields. In Mexico’s vast expanse, while some states are planting, others are harvesting. Growers cultivate a wide variety of hot peppers and operate in very different weather and growing conditions across the states.
Much of the produce is sold to the domestic market, but Mexico is also an exporter, and recently the United States has been the biggest buyer. Some hot peppers, notably jalapeño and ancho, are versatile, supplying both the fresh market (which represents 68% of jalapeño production and 66% of ancho) and the processing market. Other important varieties include serrano, habanero, Anaheim, and blocky green.
In this fast-moving environment, the needs of growers and processors evolve rapidly. New varieties are often required to meet consumer and processor preferences, increased disease resistance, and rising temperatures. Syngenta Vegetable Seeds is tracking these trends and creating new varieties to meet needs.
Key Priorities for the Hot Peppers Market
Consumers, farmers, and processors seek a significant level of pungency, or heat, ideally between 2,000 and 2,800 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) for jalapeños., for example. Growers also demand higher weight, larger size, uniform shape, and overall high quality – all important factors for achieving higher yield potential.
Agronomic resilience and tolerance to pests and diseases against both old and emerging stresses are also crucial. Hot pepper varieties have long been bred to cope with Mexico’s high temperatures, but in recent years increasing water scarcity poses a threat to crops. Growing conditions vary vastly across the country, and modern hot pepper varieties have to be adaptable and capable of thriving anywhere.
Syngenta’s Latest Innovations
Syngenta Vegetable Seeds is a rising player in the market. The company prides itself on understanding customers’ needs and developing varieties to address current and future challenges such as worsening drought, rising temperatures, and new or increasing diseases.
“Today Syngenta hot pepper products offer the characteristics that growers value,” said Adrian Castro, Syngenta Vegetable Seeds Product Specialist Solanaceae Open Field. “They are highly versatile in different locations and conditions, and we are continually improving varieties to be resilient to changing threats. We have products with resistance, and plan to continue to find new and better resistances, for example against bacterial leaf spot and soil wilt.
“We don’t know what will happen next year and in two years. We have varieties that thrive in areas of water scarcity like Sinaloa, where temperatures reach 45°C (113°F), and in places where the temperature fluctuates from cool to hot through the growing season, like Chihuahua, an important processing market,” he continued.
Focus on Jalapeño and Ancho Disease Resilience
Through listening to customers, Syngenta has developed a compelling range of varieties to address key concerns. One example is the new variety Mexica, a heavy, bullet-type green jalapeño up to 5.5 inches long, highly adaptable to different production areas for both domestic and export markets. Another is Tlapaneco, a new conical jalapeño designed for arid, hot regions like Sonora and Coahuila. Tlapaneco exhibits excellent size and uniformity, and its plant structure helps prevent sun-damaged fruits.
All Syngenta varieties possess excellent heat setting (development of pungency level), and are resistant to major bacteria, soil wilt (phytophthora), and other pathogens. Bacterial leaf spot and soil wilt are currently high risks. Syngenta has launched Silex, the company’s first ancho pepper with resistance to specific bacteria BLS 1-3), Tm:0, TSWV. Silex is known for its precocity and heat setting and is ideal for short-cycle areas with 2 to 3 harvests.
The jalapeño Purépecha shows high resistance to soil wilt as well as excellent fruit quality and uniformity, while jalapeño Chametla has excellent fruit quality and uniformity. Obsidiana, an ancho, is known for its vigor and strength, helping protect yield potential against disease and climate stresses, and for its appearance.
Syngenta is constantly developing its pipeline of new products and will maintain a close dialogue with customers to ensure its pipeline effectively tackles future challenges.
Improving Varieties Year After Year
Adrian Castro said: “Sales teams go out and talk to the growers in their locations and find out what’s happening. This way we can pay close attention to farmers’ needs and understand their challenges and then relay information to breeders at the Syngenta R&D facilities.”
Syngenta works with customers across the country, encompassing all sizes and hot pepper varieties, including operations with large field stations focused on export of jalapeños to the U.S. “The whole team in Mexico is investing and working hard to create better products for the market.”
The hot pepper market is expected to continue growing as consumers choose spicier and healthier foods. With a rapidly adapting portfolio and a track record of innovation, the Syngenta teams from sales to breeders are ready to continue supporting the sector.
The story doesn’t end in Mexico, Syngenta is committed to hot pepper production around the world, with chili peppers in India, Bird’s Eye chilis in Southeast Asia, and more product evolution in Africa, the Middle East and beyond. Learn more by visiting our country selector page and contacting your local Syngenta representative.
📢 Reach Farmers, Share Your Story, and Grow Your Brand!
Got news to share? A company story to highlight? Looking to launch an impactful advertising campaign? Connect with us at info@krishakjagat.org or nimishgangrade@krishakjagat.org and make your mark!
📢 Connect with 100+ Million Farmers! India’s leading farmers rely on Krishak Jagat’s Hindi website for trusted agriculture news, advisory and insights. Click here to explore!
