Poverty eradication with Gaharu

The Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) will embark on ‘gaharu’ or agarwood commercial planting, which could provide a viable option for its poverty eradication programme.

SLDB general manager Jhuvarri Majid said the hilly terrain in the interior of Sabah had been identified for commercial planting of the scented wood.

“A 400ha piece of land has been earmarked for an agarwood plantation and work on the first phase covering 40ha is expected to begin soon.

“From what we have gathered and the knowledge available to us, agarwood is native to Sabah and can be found in the wild in Keningau and Pensiangan,” he said in a statement issued here yesterday.

He said SLDB, which started a 20ha trial plot in Lahad Datu, would be working closely with a local company, Sudahgaharu Sdn Bhd, to come out with a working model to establish the wood’s commercial viability.

Jhuvarri said in addition to the commercial project, agarwood planting could be integrated with a reforestation programme to maintain and enrich the greenery in the state.

He said a Kelantan-based Thai company, Sahabat Pertanian AT Thai (M) Sdn Bhd, was keen to initiate a joint venture for large-scale agarwood planting in Sabah.

“The Thais have developed an agarwood species known as Aquilaria Subintegra, which is the best variety and we will get the seedlings from them,” he added.

An acre of land can be planted with up to 1,100 agarwood trees and they take seven years to mature, after which the trunks are inoculated with a special formula to induce resin production that can be harvested between nine and 12 months.

Prices can reach more than US$30,000 for a kilogramme of top quality oil and resinous wood.

The current supply of agarwood can only meet about 20 per cent of global demand, particularly from the Middle East, which is the major buyer, according to the statement.

— Bernama