Growing ‘The Wood of The Gods’: Agarwood Production in Southeast Asia - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 244

of the company has been experimenting with all kinds of techniques to obtain the
optimal quality of agarwood. There is a close cooperation with a number of scien-
tists in the country. Moreover it provides seedlings to interested farmers who can
produce agarwood trees on their own farm lots. The company has also been instru-
mental is the establishment of an organization called the Thailand Agarwood
Grower Society to assist and train farmers, as small holder tree growers, in the cul-
tivation of agarwood. It is a non-profit organization aimed to transfer knowledge on
the whole process of producing agarwood in an effort to reach the quality standards
of the Middle East.
The technology to wound the trees in order to start agarwood production is also
provided to the small holder farmers by the company. In due time the trees are being
sold for processing to the company as the farmers usually lack the connections and
skills to organize the transport or processing to other buyers outside the area.
The company is not only involved it the cultivation of agarwood it also has
started the production of a range of end products for which an extensive public
relation department was established in order to reach whole sale traders in con-
sumer countries directly. In this way it tries to by-pass the intermediate traders at
least within Thailand but also in places like Singapore or Hong Kong which mainly
serve as import and re-export sites.

12.5.3 Agarwood Production in Indonesia

All over Indonesia, in areas that used to produce agarwood harvested from the wild,
local people have started experimenting in cultivating agarwood using a wide vari-
ety of techniques. In some cases forestry research departments of local universities
are involved in the experiments as agarwood is considered one of the most valuable
non-timber forest products with a good potential for forestry-based incomes. In
East Kalimantan for instance forest scientists of Mulawarman University in
Samarinda in cooperation with the research institute of the Forestry Department are
involved in research on agarwood producing techniques to assist local farmers in
finding new livelihood alternatives now the harvesting of wild agarwood is rapidly
decreasing. Large scale logging sometimes followed by complete conversion into
other form of land use like oil palm plantations or transmigration sites have led to
an enormous reduction of 'wild forest' from which agarwood could still be har-
vested. In the efforts to promote agroforestry and in particular the production of
NTFP's agarwood is one of the main products. In addition research activities are
undertaken for the production of other NTFP's like rattan, gemor (tree bark used
for the production of mosquito repellant), honey and birds' nets (certain species of
swallows) (Yusliansyah and Kholik 2003; Siran 2006).
Another area within Indonesia where agarwood plantations are being established
at the moment is in the districts of Assue and Mappi in Southeast Papua. It is an area
in which harvesting from the wild is largely a thing of the past. The agarwood 'fever'
developed in this district since around 1995 but, just like in so many other areas,