Merida, Yucatan — The state’s Scientific Research Center, the CICY, has won a patent for a hot habanero pepper that researchers there developed.
CICY is the official breeder, of what they have named the Kisin, or “devil” in Maya, with exclusive rights to it for 18 years.
The head of the CICY Seed Production Unit, Eduardo Balam Uc, explained that being named a breeder is the equivalent of being awarded a patent for a technological development or invention.
This title also grants intellectual property rights to the researchers.
Nancy Santana Buzzy led Adriana Canto Flick and Susana Alejandra Aviles Viña in research and experimentation that produced this new variety of habanero pepper.
They were granted the title by the National Service of Inspection and Certification of Seed.
“The breeder’s title gives the CICY the possibility of owning the rights of the variety of habanero pepper Kisin for 18 years, as it is marked by the Federal Law of Plant Varieties,” he said in an interview published in El Financiero.
The Kisin is a greenish color before ripening to a bright red. They register a very spicy 670,325 on the Scoville scale, which places a normal habanero or Scotch bonnet between 100,000 and 350,000.
This is the third CICY habanero patent, following the Mayan Ek and Mayan K’iin.
