Talk on exploiting economic potential of agarwood

Story and photos by PHILIP HII
philiphii@thestar.com.my

A TALK on agarwood (gaharu) and its economic value will be held on Dec 1. Organised by Dr Luhat Technologies Institute (DLT), its director Dr Elli Luhat will share his knowledge on the subject starting 7pm at the Sibu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry premises.

Fabian Tang, DLT Institute’s representative in Sibu said the oil from the tree fetched a high price in  international markets and mainly used to produce traditional medicine, health and wellness products, incense and perfume. He said various places in the state had begun planting agarwood, which takes about three-and-a-half years to grow, commercially and the talk was to encourage more people to venture into this sector.

Money tree: Agarwood trees have very high commercial value.

DLT Institute will charge RM30 per participant but the talk is free for those who purchase two 10-month old agarwood seedlings.Those who buy one will be charged RM20. Each seedling costs RM50. Tang can be contacted at 019-8188885 or 019-8892495 for more details.