Tamarind monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future

� Most of the exports are from only a few of the major producing
countries and are limited to fresh fruits, pulp, seed kernel powder and
paste, of which the pulp and seed kernel powder is used for the
manufacture of drugs, industrial applications, and culinary purposes. Its
industrial potential is not fully exploited.
� Tamarind is often considered to be an ethnic food. In importing
countries it is used by Asian consumers with little evidence of crossing
over to other ethnic groups.
� Lack of both local and international market information restricts
expansion of crop and product diversification.
If the production were improved and international markets created for fresh
and processed products, then production could be increased to make it more
attractive and profitable.
10.5.1 Domestic marketing
Tamarind is a delicacy in the producing countries and is used widely for
various culinary purposes. It is consumed in fresh, dried and other processed
forms. The ripe pods are collected from trees grown in the wild or in home
gardens; they are processed in households and sold in the village fairs.
Intermediaries collect the products from farmers and sell them to retailers or
processors. The collectors receive low prices, hence much produce is not
harvested even when there is increasing demand in towns and cities.
Establishment of small-scale plantations would be more attractive to both
collectors and buyers (see Plate 17).
Commercialisation is constrained because there is widespread scattered
planting of trees and the fruit quality may be poor. Even in Thailand, where
small-scale commercialisation has begun, fruits from household plantings
have been competing with commercial production. There are no established
fair-price marketing mechanisms for tamarind in any of the major producing
countries, the only exception being the fruits produced for the fresh fruit
market by farmers in Thailand.
In Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, in South Asia, and in some
African and Central American countries, the major products sold in the local
markets are juice, chutney, sauce, paste, fresh fruits and pulp. In the
Philippines fresh fruits are harvested, placed in baskets or kaings or tied into
bundles and sold in rural and urban markets by volume or weight (Coronel,
1986). The price for a kilogram is about P 15. In Thailand fruits are also
sold fresh, with sweet varieties (B 37/kg, US$ 0.95/kg) earning more than
double the price of the sour varieties (B 8.66/kg). The fresh fruits of the
sweet tamarind cultivars are sold by weight for direct consumption. In India,
processed tamarind products are sold in rural markets and in supermarkets in
cities. The major products sold locally are tamarind pulp powder, paste,
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