KUALA LUMPUR: Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Dr, Lim Keng Yaik yesterday called on plantation companies in the country to cultivate herbs as supplementary crops and not to be depend solely on rubber and palm oil.
He said this was necessary to ensure that the plantation sector’s revenue was not too badly affected if the market for two commodities were to fall as had happened two years ago.
"The plantation sector must widen its scope to use herbs as supplementary income and not totally depend on crops. We must learn our lesson from what happened two years ago," he told reporters after opening a seminar on medicinal and aromatic herbs at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (Firm) here.
He said it was also an appropriate move in view of the growing herbal-based medicinal industry which needed a continuous supply of raw materials.
There were now some plantation companies involved in herbal cultivation but the number was too small to meet the demand of the herbal industry, he added.
Earlier, in his speech, Lim said the herbal industry was expected to grow by 20 per cent in 10 years compared with five per cent now.
He said the herbal and aromatherapy market in Malaysia was worth RM4.55 billion now but only five per cent of the products were sourced from local materials.
As such, he said, Frim and other parties should diversify their products and increase the use of local materials as 1,200 of the 15,000 plant species in the country had been identified to have medicinal value.
"Realising the potential of the herbal industry, the government has agreed to allocate about RM1.6 billion to develop the R&D sector under the Eighth Malaysian Plan, especially in the fields of agro-biotechnology, medicine and environment, compared with only RM1 billion under the Seventh Malaysian Plan," he said.
At the function, Lim also launched an aromatic lemongrass oil jointly produced by Frim and the Standards and Industrial Research Institute Malaysia (SIRIM).
About 200 participants took part in the two-day seminar to discuss the latest technology and methods in the herbal industry.-Bernama.
source : Borneo mail: 25/7/01