The potential of Tamarind availability in
the country is around 200000 MT and AP along with Orissa and
Chhatisgarh account for bulk of that. Although Tamarind is
available in the forest and wastelands, more then half of
the trees are outside the forests.
Collection and processing
Tamarind is collected from the forest as
well as from the village land as it is available in both kinds
of land. This is primary NTFP of the tribal villages of northern
districts of AP. Almost all families are engaged for collection
including their children and adolescents during the season.
Harvesting of Tamarind is done by shaking the branches or
by pulling down the pods by beating. They spend 9 to 10 hours
a day to collect the produce from forest and each family collects
100 to 150 KG during a month. The regular collection of produce
is dried for 2 to 3 days under the sun.
The dried tamarind is processed through separating
from the shell, for which villagers spend 2 to 3 hours in
a day. The process is maintained in a cyclical approach between
collection and selling time. While women and children are
involved more during the preliminary processing (deseeding),
it is the men who are involved more in collection, selling
and secondary processing. The secondary processing consists
of turning the deseeded tamarind into various shapes - flower
and chapathi. This is primarily done at the middlemen or trader's
place, while deseeding is a household activity.
The seed separated from the fruit is also
useful. The villagers consume part of the Tamarind seed collected
after boiling or roasting. Part of it is used for cattle feed
after light roasting and decortications. Wherever sufficient
quantity is procured, they are despatched for concentrated
production of the seed or to the starch industry. Then they
are sent to the textile industry or for export.
Over the years, FD, and ITDA along with NGOs
have trained people about processing methodology for value
addition of the produce. Some villagers use cake making machines
provided by the forest department and sell it at the near
by towns. But presently it is done at a lower scale.
Of the areas where we have conducted field
studies, in East Godavari, people collect tamarind early in
the season, while it is still raw and sell it to private traders
during sandy days immediately. This does not happen in other
Tamarind producing areas of North AP. Upon enquiry it was
found that availability of the produce is in the commons (forest)
in East Godavari, where as in other areas Tamarind trees have
become comparatively rare and are mostly available either
in agricultural fields or are distributed among HHs. So there
is clearer ownership of Tamarind trees in Visakhapatnam that
results people being careful while harvesting.
Production and pricing
Following figures show the procurement and
sales quantity and price of both seeded tamarind and tamarind
seed as both of them are procured by GCC. GCC also procures
deseeded tamarind but the quantity is lower as compared to
the above two products, though the value is higher then the
Tamarind seed as the price of the former is higher. But value
of deseeded tamarind procured is almost 25% that of Seeded
Tamarind. This in a way implies that primary collectors are
not very inclined to sell value added product. This gives
rise to the question as to where the Tamarind seed come from?
Apart from Tamarind that is sold in deseeded form, a large
part of the seed also comes from tamarind that is consumed
by the households themselves. Does this also mean that the
primary collectors sell part of the deseeded Tamarind in the
open market?
Procurement of both Tamarind and its seed
has been erratic with no clear trend, but has remained within
a certain range. Tamarind follows a production cycle that
is cyclical with one peak year in every three years that is
not really reflected in the procurement by the agency. But
the prices have shown an increasing trend except for 2000-01
when the prices have started decreasing. 2000-01 is also the
year when procurement of both the produces is at its peak.
One more thing that needs to be noted in this context is that
the sales of these produces have taken a nosedive in the same
period. As observed from the neighbouring states during 2000-01,
there was a glut in the market as that was one of the peak
years. At the same time, both Chhatisgarh and AP were offering
an administered price for the produce, where as in Orissa
the produce was available without much restriction. The prevailing
price in Orissa was Rs. 4- 5 lower then AP. It is believed
that the traders took advantage of this situation and took
Tamarind across borders (from Orissa to AP and Chhatisgarh)
and made some money. But the state agency is now stuck with
stocks that it is unable to sell because of the falling prices.
Figure
: Procurement and Sales Quantity of Seeded Tamarind (in MT)
Figure
: Procurement and Sales Price of Seeded Tamarind (in MT)
Figure
: Procurement and Sales Quantity of Tamarind Seed (in MT)
Figure
: Procurement and Sales Price of Tamarind Seed (in MT) |
