Black pepper farming in Karnataka

From the archive record

Karnataka has dethroned Kerala as the leading producer of pepper, accounting for almost 50 percent of the production in the Of the estimated all-India pepper production of 70,000 tonnes, Karnataka’s share was 33,000 tonnes while that of Kerala was 28,000 tonnes during the period. Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed. Peppercorns, and the powdered pepper derived from grinding them, may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried u