Tamarind monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future

Chapter 11. Current Situation and
needs for Research and Technology
11.1 Introduction
J.T. Williams
Although domesticated, tamarind has tended to remain a useful species
associated with smallholder farmers and also widely gathered from extensive
wild stands. Despite its extensive use it has received minimal research
attention. The research has also been somewhat sporadic. Not a great deal
has been translated into technology development and even less has been
downstreamed to the farmers.
In part this situation relates to the fact that tamarind is a large, relatively
long-lived tree species which appears to be easy to cultivate and local
demands for the fruits were always satisfied. In fact trees appear to grow
unattended in backyards, roadsides or on wetlands and hence tamarind did
not become a priority for focused development by governments. Tamarind
remains underexploited even though its potential is widely recognised; it will
remain so if traditional practices continue to result in poor tree management
due to lack of skills in pruning, harvesting and processing of products.
However, the past two decades have witnessed three important advances,
namely:
(i) the recognition that exploitation for commerce of wild and primitively
cultivated tamarind provides cheap raw material for industrial purposes –
and local producers hardly benefit;
(ii) a limited number of cultivars have been developed and, as is the case for
sweet tamarind, these can lead to the establishment of more intensive
orchards/plantations; and
(iii) an upsurge in the need for agroforestry systems, such as in Asia and
Africa and the widespread recognition of the value of tamarind in such
systems has resulted in demands for better planting materials, and for better
management systems, paying attention to the potential for income generation
for resource-poor farmers in all agricultural areas but particularly in the more
marginal areas.
11.2 The current situation
The major breakthrough in recent years has been the identification of
tamarind types with less acidic pulp, commonly referred to as sweet
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