TRP Agarwood Project Information and Conference Web site

TRP Agarwood project introduction and summary

Agarwood, resin-impregnated parts of Aquilaria species, is used for incense, perfume and medicine and commands high prices on the world market. Only by cutting trees down and extracting valuable parts Agarwood can be harvested in commercially attractive quantities. This has resulted in the rapid demise of Aquilaria in natural forests of tropical South and Southeast Asia.

“Creating Agarwood Supplies in Viet Nam” is a TRP initiated  and managed project, sponsored by the European Commission and other foundation donors. The project will demonstrate a durable and commercially viable solution to this problem, and provide a development model for other natural forest products. This TRP project will translate applied research into sustained economic development and tropical forest conservation. Accomplishments in the past seven years:

1. Aquilaria plantations can be successfully developed as an agro-forestry enterprise

2. Aquilaria can be artificially induced to yield the extremely valuable commercial product known as Agarwood

3. Using technology developed in a cooperative research project with Professor Robert Blanchette, University of Minnesota (http://www.plpa.agri.umn.edu/faculty/blanchette.html), have been successful to induce agarwood in plantation grown trees. During this process Aquilaria trees produce copious amounts of resin in young trees after only a few years.

4. There is a sure long-term market for a wide range of Agarwood products with stable or rising demand and a rapidly diminishing supply scenario

5. The development of Agarwood plantations is an ideal way of generating income and employment for low-income families living in and around project areas.

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