Availability and Spread

Tamarind is extensively cultivated in tropical areas of the world. Tamarind is essentially considered a forest tree in India. Trees are available in plenty in South and central India. Although it grows in semi arid tropical conditions, it does well in many humid tropical areas with seasonal rainfall.

However in Bastar most trees are found either on revenue land or on private land (up to 90%). The trees on commons or revenue land are property of Government or Panchayat, and hence the Tehsildars auction those commons at beginning of a season. The highest bidder becomes owner of produce and caretaker of the tree. Often it is the resident closest to Tamarind tree, which assumes ownership in order to reduce incidental costs. Trees in forests are considered as common property, like all others. These are harvested on a first come first serve basis.

The estimation of quantity of Tamarind in the undivided Bastar district alone varies from 10000 to 25000 MT a year.

Production and Pricing

Tamarind being a non-nationalised produce, it is difficult to get the consolidated figures of production. The figure below shows the trade in the produce in the Mandis of undivided Bastar that is the primary area of production. This in a sense reflects the total production in the state.

Figure : Tamarind Transaction in Mandis of Bastar

The prices of tamarind are highly volatile and vary from place to place depending upon distance from nearest mandi and roads. The villages near Orissa and Andhra keep track of prices in neighbouring states. Prices of tamarind rise with arrivals, but dips by end of season. Markets again begin to look up by May when tamarind stored in cold storage begins to find it ways.

The people who get the lowest prices (exploitative!) are the interior villages not only because of distance factor. The other factors that come into play are general level of ignorance and desperation to sell to local trader instead of travelling to far off places, where one is not sure of getting an expected price. The tribal sell off their produce for as low as Rs. 20 – 35 for 50 kg. On an average the remuneration payable to tribal is in range of Rs. 2- 3 a kg of seeded and Rs. 6 – 10 for deseeded. The same sells in the Jagdalpur mandi for about Rs. 5 –9 and Rs. 8 – 15 respectively.

There is also scope for cheating and exploitation as almost no trader uses standard weighing measures. The most common system is that of a piali, where a cylindrical metallic container is used as a volumetric measure. However what the tribal receive in return is just the equivalent by volume of cheaper and heavier items like common salt. The traders are so swift in their transaction that they allow a tribal little time to question or doubt what the trader does or says. It is also virtually impossible to object as the commodity is dumped into common lot the moment first measure is made leaving no room for question or retrieving the commodity dumped. Traders take advantage of the tribal, as there are still places in Bastar where people do not know how to count or recognise currency notes apart from Rs. 10. This helps the trader to round off any remuneration to the nearest 10.

There are occasions when traders simply snatch away the produce brought by tribals and pay them nominally. The tribal are too passive to raise any voice. One more reason for tribal’s indifference may be due to low value attached to produce as nature’s gift and because of ignorance of its final value.

Trade Aspects

Very often in remote regions, tribals lease their trees to kutchias or local traders at abysmally low prices. The trees that yield anything between 100 – 250 kg may be given off at prices as low as Rs. 150 – 250. Sometimes the tribal does not get anything in return as trees are taken in for liquidating some loan or outstanding debt. Even under such circumstances the tribal takes care of the tree and harvests the produce to give it to the trader.

Tamarind from Bastar collected by the kutchias at the first level finds it way to AP (Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Pongonoor, Chittoor districts being prominent). Details are described later. There are industries around above districts that manufacture tamarind concentrate for export purposes. These regions also have cold storages that help in storing tamarinds and retain quality. Tamarind from cold storages is released in consumption areas around May – June, once the season is over.

Jagdalpur is the biggest Mandi on the procuring side in India as Bastar and areas surrounding it is the main production centre. Even Tamarind from Orissa and AP are channelised through Jagdalpur. Jagdalpur mandi prices are the measuring stone for traders all over the country. After collection season, the festival season also witnesses spurt in trading in Jagdalpur Mandi. The demand in outside markets is met by tamarind stored in cold storages of Jagdalpur. Prices in Jagdalpur do not reflect adherence to laws of demand and supply. Average prices rise to coincide with the time when maximum trading takes place in Jagdalpur.

The causes could be –

1. It is the commission agents in Jagdalpur who buy on behalf of customers residing in far away places. The later normally communicate on telephones and are rarely present in person. Buyers quote a base price at which they are ready to buy the produce. Commission agents merely execute the order by buying at quoted price. This allows agents and traders at Jagdalpur end to exert their powers to influence the remuneration they receive.

2. The traders/ commission agent at Jagdalpur can always hold back produce due to availability of cold storages. Cost of storing a kg of tamarind comes to roughly 35 to 65 paise per season. Therefore if a trader has financial muscle to hold stocks he or she can influence prices in mandi.