Indonesian Model! Govt. Must Support Agarwood Farming

One of the most serious drawbacks in our national development is the failure of government to adapt new technology and innovations and grab opportunities, especially in Agriculture.
A perfect example are the potentials of a wild tree endemic to the Eastern Seaboard of the country, Agarwood, which had not been exploited by our government not only to protect the remaining forests but also to provide rural areas a source of income and jobs.
Agarwood, locally known as Lapnisan, is the source of a resin which the tree trunk produces when it is attacked by a fungus and the resin is processed to produce Oud oil, reputedly one of the most expensive essences in the world.
The Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources has focused on catching poachers and enforcing strict regulations instead of promoting a commercial production of Agarwood.
I made a little research on how Indonesia had developed its Agarwood Industry to the point that the program protected poaching in the remaining Agarwood forests while at the same time creating a multi-million dollar industry.
In a research paper authored by Yusuf B Samsudin, Thifali Adzani, Muhamad Aditio Ramadian, Daisuke Naito and Himlal Baral titled “The potential of agarwood as a climate-resilient livelihood option in Indonesia” the potentials of Agarwood for rural livelihood and climate resilience is given so much emphasis.
Here are excerpts from the paper:
“Agarwood is a high-value tree commodity found in tropical forests in at least 12 countries in South and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Bhutan, Thailand, Lao PDR, Malaysia and Myanmar (Lee and Mohamed 2016).
“Agarwood resin has the blackish colour of heartwood (Turjaman, Hidayat, and Santoso 2016). It forms from a natural chemical barrier in the tree that protects against bacteria, fungi, insects and attacks from external agents (Compton and Ishihara n.d.; Nobuchi and Siripatanadilok 1991; Gerber and Hill 2005; Faizal et al. 2017).
“The most notable tree species that produce agarwood resin are from Aquilaria and Gyrinops genera (Compton and Ishihara n.d.). Harvesters and consumers often rely on agarwood products from natural forests, which has caused overexploitation and threatens their survival (Karlinasari and Nandika 2016; Turjaman et al. 2016).
“Due to this overexploitation, Aquilaria spp. and Gyrinops spp. have been listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which restricts trading of listed species (Schmidt 2011).
In the global marketplace, distillate of old agarwood oil can reach up to USD 80,000/litre and agarwood chips can reach USD 100,000/kg for use in religious and cultural activities (Persoon 2007; Naziz, Das and Sen 2019; Ash and Nguyen 2020).
“Recognizing the economic opportunities the commodity provides, several local governments in Indonesia are promoting its cultivation through agarwood plantations.
“Most of these plantations are in Sumatra (53%) and Kalimantan (38%). Through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF)’s Forest and Environmental Research, Development and Innovation Agency (FORDA) of the Republic of Indonesia, the government promotes research into methods to induce trees to form agarwood resin. MoEF also issued a regulation on agarwood cultivation, harvesting and trading in 2015.
“A FORDA study shows more than 3 million agarwood trees from various genera growing in 1,257 village regions in 21 provinces in Indonesia (Santoso et al. 2014; Santoso 2015 in Turjaman and Hidayat 2016).
“Agarwood cultivation shows promise for sustainable management and supply of agarwood resin to markets (Turjaman et al. 2016). However, effective inoculants are a key factor for determining successful cultivation (Turjaman et al. 2016).
“Having effective fungal inoculants would spur farmers’ interest in practicing agarwood cultivation, whereas failure to develop inoculants will cause local community interest in developing agarwood to wane, and result in wild agarwood harvesting remaining high or even increasing.”
The time has come for our environmental and economic experts to sit down and craft a program which would replicate the Indonesian experience.
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
(Photo shows my brother, Bong, and his two-year-old Aquilaria Malaccensis or Agarwood Tree in his farm providing that this valuable tree grows well in Mindanao. Second photo shows an Agarwood nursery in Indonesia.)