INDOGENOUS KNOWLEDGE ON TAMARIND TAMARINDUS INDICA L' IN NOTHERN BENIN

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ENDOGENOUS KNOWLEDGE ON TAMARIND (TAMARINDUS
INDICA L.) IN NOTHERN BENIN

• A.B. Fandohan, A.E Assogbadjo B. Sinsin

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Background

• There are increasing interests on wild fruit
  trees as key elements in strategies building to
  alleviate severe malnutrition and poverty in
  developing countries.
• New initiatives in agro-forestry are seeking to
  integrate into tropical farming systems
  indigenous trees whose products have
  traditionally been gathered from natural forests
  (Leakey Simons, 1998).
• This is of a great importance as far as
  domesticating trees or ex situ conservation is
  seen as a key process in reduction of
  anthropogenic pressure on forest wild fruit trees
  species.
• En, PhD programs on multipurpose trees of Benin
  have been initiated.

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Background

• The first step of such studies is to document
  local knowledge on targeted species as a proof
  of both needs to conservation and potential to
  domestication.
• Here the case of tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.)
  is addressed.
• In tamarind studies, a still undocumented matter
  is also the relation between tamarind and termite
  or ant as the tree is said to be commonly seen on
  those social insects buildings.
• Hypotheses have attributed the phenomenon to the
  soil requirements of tamarind trees (El-Siddig et
  al., 2006). However these hypotheses have never
  been tested.
• Gathering information on how does local people
  interpret this phenomenon could then help for a
  better scientific understanding.

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Research questions

• What are the different products and uses of
  tamarind?
• What are the diversity traits and principal
  threats to the species?
• To what do local communities attribute the
  relation between tamarind trees and social
  insects?

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Material methods
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Material methods

• A survey based on a semi structured
  group-interviews was realized in the 18 principal
  villages of Karimama district surrounding the W
  National Park.
• The sample was based on the ethnical groups and
  their related proportion in the district.
• Overall, 171 informants of which 63.16 Dendi,
  16.96 Fulfuldé, 16.96 Gourmantché and 2.92
  Haussa have been questioned.
• Quantitative analyses have been made using SPSS
  ordination statistical packages. Thus, the
  response rate per information has been calculated
  using the following formula

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Material methods

• To correlate informants responses related to
  tamarind-mounds association with field
  observations, an inventory has been made in the
  species major habitats (gallery forests savannah
  woodlands and farmlands). 130 trees have been
  surveyed per habitat type. Data related to
  presence/absence of termite mound or ant hill
  under each recorded tamarind tree have been
  collected.

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Results discussions

• TAMARIND UTILIZATION
• Tamarind plays an important role in local
  communities livelihoods as showed by its many
  uses.
• Domains of it use cover traditherapy, nutrition,
  occultism and pastoralism.
• About 75 of the recorded uses are shared by the
  surveyed ethnical groups.
• Most commonly the fruit (pulp) is used to make
  beverages, to treat malaria, as laxative and
  purgative and seemed to be the only one part
  sold.
• The bark is most frequently use as a medicine in
  hardly curable wounds treatment while the leaves
  are used to make porridge and as antibiotic.

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Results discussion

• The wood is used to make agricultural tools. Some
  of the uses as far as that of the wood for
  cultural flagellation and in young cows weaning
  are restricted to Fulanis ethnical groups.
• The recorded uses of tamarind overlap with
  results obtained later (Arbonnier, 2002
  El-Siddig et al., 2006).
• In spite of those uses, the species is still
  underexploited and remains unsupported by a
  formal trade network.
• In Karimama district where people are facing
  severe poverty and malnutrition (LARES, 2001) a
  better valorisation of tamarind could help to
  overcome the essue.

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Results discussion

• DIVERSITY TRAITS AND THEATS
• According to all of the respondents, there are no
  particular tree-to-tree traits used to classify
  tamarind individuals. However, a high diversity
  in seeds colour, size and shape, the cracked
  aspect of tamarind trunk in open ecosystems in
  contrast with that of gallery forests have been
  mentioned.
• Gourmantché informants (16.96 of respondents)
  have also indicated a slight difference between
  gallery forest trees pulp taste (less sour) and
  that of savannah woodlands and farmlands.
• Tamarind mature individuals were feared and
  sacred in all of the surveyed ethnical groups and
  sometime chosen as privileged places for occult
  ceremonies. This long ago has protected the
  species from systematic logging when farmers
  cleaned lands for agricultural purposes.

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Results discussion

• Unfortunately, nowadays, Karimama districts
  inhabitants are facing a chronic lack of
  cultivable lands. Thus, tamarind individuals are
  not anymore systematically spared.
• Among anthropogenic activities and practices,
  mature trees mutilating for the species diverse
  uses, seedling removing and, fire and knocking
  down when cleaning lands are the principal
  threats to the species. This has contributed to
  an extreme scarcity of the species regeneration.
• The negative impact of mutilations and
  agricultural practices on tree species long term
  survival has been proven (Omeja et al., 2005).
  Such a tree may need more interests on its
  ecology, diversity and domestication for its
  conservation and enhanced utilization.

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Results discussion

• PERCEPTION OF TAMARIND-INSECTS ASSOCIATION
• It has generally been observed under tamarind
  trees shadow a termite mound or ant hill alive,
  abandoned or being rebuilt. Results have
  suggested the presence of social insect building
  under tamarind to be frequent in open ecosystems
  and rare in gallery forests.
• According to 98.8 of the informants the
  building of mounds or hills generally start when
  the tamarind tree reaches the adult stage. This
  means the presence of tamarind trees is anterior
  to that of mounds.
• about 15 of respondents (aged persons) have
  also attributed the phenomenon to an affinity of
  those social insects to tamarind trees due to the
  particular humidity under the trees crown
  year-round.

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Results discussions

• In addition, field observations have revealed
  that both termites and ants feed on tamarind
  fruits and barks. This proves a trophic relation
  between tamarind and termites or ants.
• Tamarind-social insect association is not yet
  scientifically well elucidated. Some authors have
  reported the species to grow near ant-hills or
  termite mounds in Africa, due to its preference
  for well aerated soils (Allen Allen, 1981).
• It has been also suggested that its association
  with ant-hills and termitaria may be due to a
  preference for slight lime content in the soil
  (Jansen, 1981). However, up to date, these
  hypotheses have never been tested through a
  scientific research.
• Endogenous knowledge did not support them and
  clearly showed that the presence of tamarind
  trees is anterior to that of mounds.

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Conclusion

• Tamarind is a socio-culturally suitable tree
  species that could be used to diversify
  households incomes as far as improving
  livelihoods is concerned in dry regions of Benin.
• However, mutilations and over major threats to
  the species are strong handicaps to its
  populations stability and long term viability.
• interests are called on the species contribution
  to households incomes and local economies.
• Further research on the auto-ecology and feeding
  preferences of termites or ants currently found
  under of tamarind trees shade are also needed to
  elucidate their affinity to tamarind.

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Acknowledgement

• I am grateful to IUFRO and its Partners for
  making possible my participation to IUFRO Events
  through sponsorschip.
• And a take the oportunity to tell that my
  expectances have been fully satisfied.

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Thanks for your attention