Gaharu - Gold in the wild
Picture show a portion of my land in Sook, opposite the SLDB oil Palm Plantation.
One litre of gaharu oil can fetch between RM30,000 – RM35,000, making it a prized commodity for crooks.
And Sabah is losing an untold fortune in wild agarwood (gaharu) to foreign poachers who pay local villagers money to collect the invaluable resin and take them over the border for processing and export.
If properly managed, these agarwood can be collected and sold locally, thus opening up a new industry, particularly in the interior district of Nabawan, the Sabah Land Development Board stated Sunday.
SLDB general manager Encik Jhuvarri Majid said wild agarwood fetched premium prices overseas but the collectors were paid a pittance for their hard and often dangerous work, having to search deep in the wild forests.
“Even our National Parks and Forest Reserves have not been spared by these poachers and unscrupulous dealers,” he said SLDB is suggesting that the collection of agarwood from our forests be carried out in a more organized and viable manner so that all sides can benefit from this trade.
Jhuvarri said SLDB is willing to undertake the role as the agency that will licence all agarwood collectors and obtain the necessary approvals from the relevant agencies so that the collectors do not fall foul of the laws.
ìThe villagers do not understand that they are taking part in an illegal trade but at the same time they have nowhere else to sell whatever they collect from the jungles,î he added.
“SLDB will also buy whatever they can collect at current market prices (so that the villagers get the best deal) and process it at our plant to extract the oil before we sell it at international market prices.”
If properly managed, these agarwood can be collected and sold locally, thus opening up a new industry, particularly in the interior district of Nabawan, the Sabah Land Development Board stated Sunday.
SLDB general manager Encik Jhuvarri Majid said wild agarwood fetched premium prices overseas but the collectors were paid a pittance for their hard and often dangerous work, having to search deep in the wild forests.
“Even our National Parks and Forest Reserves have not been spared by these poachers and unscrupulous dealers,” he said SLDB is suggesting that the collection of agarwood from our forests be carried out in a more organized and viable manner so that all sides can benefit from this trade.
Jhuvarri said SLDB is willing to undertake the role as the agency that will licence all agarwood collectors and obtain the necessary approvals from the relevant agencies so that the collectors do not fall foul of the laws.
ìThe villagers do not understand that they are taking part in an illegal trade but at the same time they have nowhere else to sell whatever they collect from the jungles,î he added.
“SLDB will also buy whatever they can collect at current market prices (so that the villagers get the best deal) and process it at our plant to extract the oil before we sell it at international market prices.”
My Say:
I happen to own several lots of land in Sook, near Nabawan. Reading this article I might consider planting agarwood trees. It worth a try after all the prices of palm oil nowadays had dropped.
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