Contribution of <i>Tamarindus indica</i> products to the rural livelihood of Wamakko Community of Sokoto State – Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the contribution of Tamarindus indica products to the rural livelihood of people in Wamakko community of Sokoto State. Structured and open ended questionnaires were distributed. Twelve villages were purposively selected from eight districts. Simple random sampling was used to select ten 10 respondents from each village giving a total sample size of 120 respondents. The primary data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages). The results of the study indicated that, 66.6% of the respondents were within the age range of 15 – 35 years. 88.3% were male and married and 64.2% had a family size of 6 – 10 persons. Majority of them were farmers (96.7%) while 75% obtained Qur’anic education. In contribution to livelihood, the species serves as source of income to 82.5% of the respondents. About 40.5% of the respondents have an income range of N15,001 to -25,000 and 81.7% source their products from the market. However, apart from medicinal value, 68.3% of the respondents used Tamarindus indica as food (pulp). The major problems faced by the respondents in the study area include pest and disease infestation and lack of storage facilities. The paper recommended regeneration of Tamarindus indica through afforestation, reforestation and social forestry for an improved livelihood of people in the study area.