Bangka Tengah forestry and plantation office spokesman Mahmuddin said here recently that representatives from 26 countries, signing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
of Wild Fauna and Flora, would participate in the event.
"In that upcoming seminar we will propose a revision on gaharu export restriction, agreed in the previous CITES meeting, to provide opportunities for gaharu farmers in Bangka Tengah to export their products," Mahmuddin said.
Mahmuddin explained that in the seminar the participants would be encouraged to revise gaharu export restriction following the high interest of local agar-wood farmers in raising the world`s most expensive wood.
"We are going to propose the upcoming international forum not to restrict the areas or countries which cultivate gaharu or agar wood," Mahmuddin said, adding that a lot of farmers in Bangka Tengah district had a profound interest in cultivating gaharu.
Increasing use of herbal medicine from organic materials has made gaharu increasingly sought as raw material for drugs for various disorders such as stress, asthma, liver, kidney failure, gastroenteritis, colitis, rheumatism, and tumors.
Now gaharu is also used in making cosmetics and thus it can be sold at Rp2-5 million per kilogram for average quality and for super quality it can be Rp18 million per kilogram.
It is on that basis that the development of gaharu can strongly support the government`s forest conservation program.
Mahmuddin explained that since the past few years the farmers in Bangka Tengah district have been developing gaharu cultivation and up to 2011 there were a total of 235,000 agarwood trees in the district.
"Therefore we hope the international gaharu seminar in Bangka Tengah will be of great significance for the local farmers," Mahmuddin said.(*)
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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
