The Applied Microbiology Research Center (PRMT) of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has developed a method to artificially cultivate agarwood through microbes-based bio-induction to optimize agarwood production, PRMT head Ahmad Fathoni said.
Agarwood has a very large potential economic value, which must continue to be developed, he said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The expectation is that, through cooperation, BRIN can fill areas in which research can increase the valuation or resolve problems in the industry, he added.
BRIN will optimize its resources and research capacity, starting from cultivation techniques and inoculation techniques, as part of efforts to produce intermediate products and final products that are expected to be commercialized by the private sector.
Fathoni said agarwood is expected to be utilized and optimized so that it has a higher added value.
BRIN researcher Asep Hidayat noted that the global sale value of agarwood is high. The price of agarwood of super king quality can reach up to hundreds of billions of rupiah per kilogram.
Currently, agarwood is produced in nature wherever there is a natural forest. Wild hunters take agarwood from trees, extract it, and then sold it.
“Its (agarwood) sale value is very high and the global demand is very high, which also leads to high exploitation. As a result, the existence of agarwood in nature has continued to decline toward endangerment,” he informed.
Therefore, many farmers, and even companies, have started to cultivate agarwood.
However, the technology that BRIN can facilitate is necessary to develop agarwood cultivation, starting from the cultivation technique and maintenance technique to the induction technique or treatment of agarwood trees to get agarwood.
“Agarwood research has frequently been done, but it can be said that they are still running in place,” he remarked.
Technology and innovation are expected to help produce new products that sell well in the market and improve the economy. To develop artificial agarwood cultivation, BRIN is collaborating with PT Timberdana.
Source: Antara News