Herbal Cultivation Park to be launched in Terengganu!

Source : Herbal Cultivation Park to be launched in Terengganu!

December 21st, 2010 | Published in Agriculture, EPP Nuggets | 1 Comment
Year end update! This just in today. The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry announced that the ECERDC* received the go ahead for Terengganu to develop a Herbal Cultivation Park on 461 hectares of land.

Creating 285 jobs, this project in Pasir Raja, Teregganu, will include developing top 2 money makers: Tongkat Ali which is expected to bring in an annual revenue of RM225,000 per hectare and for Dukung Anak it’s RM136,500.

5 other types of high demand herbs that will also be developed are:

• Kacip Fatimah,
• Misai Kucing,
• Hempedu Bumi,
• Agar wood,
• Lemon Myrtle.

Minister Datuk Sri Noh bin Omar, who is the lead minister for the Agriculture NKEA, said that the global trade of natural products amounted to RM777 billion in 2006 and is expected to triple to over RM2 trillion by 2020.

So following that, ECERDC is planning to develop 2 additional herbal parks. The one in Chegar Perah is expected to take off in 2011 and the second one in Rantau Manis in 2013.

*ECERDC – East Coast Economic Region Development Council

National Key Economic Areas (AGRICULTURE-Including Herbs)

Where we are today

The agriculture sector plays an important role in Malaysia’s economic development—providing rural employment, uplifting rural incomes and ensuring national food security. Excluding industrial crops such as palm oil and rubber, the agriculture sector contributed RM20 billion or 4 percent of Malaysia’s GNI in 2009. Traditionally labelled as the poor man’s sector, the face of agriculture is slowly changing as entrepreneurs in diverse businesses like swiftlet nest ranching and large-scale paddy (rice) farmers are able to move up to Malaysia’s high-income group.

Vision for the future

By 2020 agriculture will be transformed into agribusiness, moving towards a model that is inclusive but simultaneously anchored on market needs, economies of scale and value chain integration. Malaysia will focus on large global markets with high growth potential such as aquaculture and premium processed foods, while maintaining a strong presence in strategic sub-sectors such as paddy and livestock to ensure national food security. To do so, we will need to capitalise on natural resources while enhancing productivity and adopting a truly demand driven approach.

Targets and aspirations

The Agriculture NKEA is targeted to raise total GNI contribution by RM20 billion to reach RM49 billion by 2020. The NKEA will create an additional 75,000 jobs, mostly in rural areas, where we target to increase the incomes of farmers participating in our initiatives by two to four times.

The NKEA plans to bridge this gap through 16 EPPs that catalyse the establishment of market-driven, industrial scale and integrated agriculture-related businesses along four themes.

1—Capitalising on Malaysia’s competitive advantage: We aim to unlock value from Malaysia’s biodiversity, including developing our diverse natural herbs into premium herbal products, commercialising our unique native seaweed varieties, expanding swiftlet nest production, farming through integrated cage aquaculture systems and rearing cattle in oil palm estates.

2—Tapping premium markets: We will focus efforts on expanding production of premium grade fruit and vegetables and certified shrimps for export as well as developing premium processed foods and introducing a fragrant rice variety for non-irrigated areas.

3—Ensuring food security objectives are consistent with increasing GNI: The Government will ensure that food security objectives are met. As the population continues to grow, these EPPs will scale up and strengthen productivity of paddy farming and cattle ranching as well as establish local dairy clusters with the help of foreign players to help meet increasing demand.

4—Expanding participation in the regional value chain: We aim to expand our participation in the region by acquiring foreign firms, undertaking contract farming activities overseas and providing regional services in niche areas such as molecular marker discovery and validation for breeding.

Enabling growth

Achieving our aspirations will require cumulative funding of RM22 billion over the next 10 years with 62 percent coming from the private sector. Of the total public funding for capital, half will go towards upgrading irrigation in granary areas and the rest to develop critical infrastructure such as water intakes, roads and jetties.

In addition, five key enablers are required to support the implementation of the EPPs and business opportunities ranging from providing incentives for anchor companies (to transform from small-scale production-centric activities to a large-scale, market-centric approach) to strengthening adoption of good agricultural practices, making regulatory changes, strengthening logistics and ensuring a sufficient pipeline of human capital

461 Hectares To Cultivate Herbs In Terengganu

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 (Bernama) -- The East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) has received approval for Terengganu to develop a Herbal Cultivation Park on 461 hectares in Pasir Raja, Terengganu.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, the lead ministry for the Agriculture National Key Economic Area (NKEA), today announced that the land would be used to cultivate seven types of herbs in high demand, namely Tongkat Ali, Kacip Fatimah, Misai Kucing, Dukung Anak, Hempedu Bumi, Agar wood and Lemon Mrytle.
The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) said in a statement that Tongkat Ali was expected to bring the highest annual revenue, estimated at RM225,000 per hectare, followed by Dukung Anak, which is expected to bring an estimated RM136,500 per hectare annually.
Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar said the global trade of natural products amounted to RM777 billion in 2006, and was projected to triple to over RM2 trillion by 2020.
He said the project, which would create 285 jobs, was a crucial step to ensure the availability of a ready source of raw material as Malaysia moved up the value chain to become a leader in the production of nutraceuticals and botanical drugs.
ECERDC is also planning to develop two additional herbal parks in Chegar Perah and Rantau Manis, which are expected to take off in 2011 and 2013, respectively.
"The global demand for agriculture produce is expanding rapidly and there are many niches that Malaysia can exploit, given our natural advantages. We aim to double the agriculture sector’s contribution to the Gross National Income by expanding the production of high-value items and increasing the percentage of raw produce that is made into downstream products," Noh said.
"Through better infrastructure, management techniques and technology, we also target to increase productivity to enable farmers participating in our projects to more than double the monthly income that they receive,” he added.

ECER Perluas industri Herba

Taman herba yang dicadangkan di bawah Wilayah Ekonomi Pantai Timur (ECER) diyakini kena pada masanya. Ini kerana produk herba tidak lagi dikaitkan dengan kisah kebayan tetapi rahsia khazanah dalam hutan itu akan dihipotesis secara saintifik dan dikeluarkan secara moden. Potensi produk herba sebagai satu sumber ekonomi kini berkembang luas, khasnya digunakan sebagai makanan kesihatan, produk kosmetik dan kecantikan serta ubatubatan. Sebagai industri yang punya potensi besar, maka kerajaan merancang untuk meletakkannya pada satu peringkat yang lebih tinggi. Usaha kerajaan mengetengahkan bidang pertanian terutama sektor tanaman herba ini bakal Memberi pulangan berganda kepada ekonomi rakyat dan negara. Pada peringkat makro, industri herba yang sedang dimajukan di seluruh negara ini mampu meletakkan Malaysia sebagai hab herba yang paling unggul di dunia. Secara tidak langsung, ia turut menarik minat pakar-pakar dari luar negara menempatkan pusat penyelidikan dan pembangunan (R&D) herba mereka di negara ini. Kesan utama apabila kita majukan taman bioteknologi herba, ia dapat menjimatkan tukaran wang asing yang pada masa kini 90 peratus bahan mentah untuk industri produk herba masih bergantung dari China, Indonesia dan India. Nilai import itu pada 1996 sahaja mencecah RM264.7 juta. Faedah yang diterima oleh penduduk tempatan sudah tentu dari segi pendapatan tambahan apabila mereka menanam tumbuhan herba di sekitar rumah. Malah kaum wanita juga boleh melakukan kerja ini dari rumah sahaja. Hasil daripada usaha meningkatkan cara penanaman dan pengurusan tanaman herba ini, Ia mampu mewujudkan lebih ramai usahawan bumiputera. Pengusaha produk herba tempatan perlu mengambil peluang dari kemewahan khazanah rimba Malaysia untuk memastikan industri herba menjadi komoditi baru dalam negara. Malaysia mempunyai banyak kelebihan berbanding dengan negara-negara lain dalam perniagaan herba. Negara kita disenaraikan tangga ke-12 negara paling biodiverse di dunia dan yang keempat di Asia. Sebenarnya masih banyak ruang yang perlu diterokai dalam industri ini kerana Malaysia memiliki lebih 15,000 tumbuhan berbunga dan lebih 3,000 spesies tumbuhan perubatan tetapi hanya 50 sahaja yang digunakan. asaran produk herba mempunyai masa depan yang cerah untuk berkembang. Malah pasaran produk berasaskan herba pada masa ini terbuka luas. Berdasarkan laporan Bank Dunia, pasaran herba dijangka meningkat kepada AS$200 bilion (RM760 bilion) pada tahun 2008 dan mencecah AS$5 trilion (RM19 trilion) pada tahun 2050. Pasaran herba di Malaysia sahaja dianggarkan bernilai lebih RM4.55 bilion dengan kadar pertumbuhan tahunan kira-kira 15 – 20 peratus. Faktor utama yang mendorong Malaysia memberi tumpuan pada herba adalah kerana wujudnya trend masyarakat dunia yang mula mengutamakan produk berasaskan alam semula jadi berbanding produk-produk lain yang mengandungi bahan kimia. Kini perubatan berasaskan herba menjadi pilihan kerana ia didapati lebih selamat dan untuk itu para petani digesa mengusahakan tanaman herba kerana ia mempunyai pasaran dan permintaan yang lumayan. Dengan wujudnya Pusat Penyelidikan Bioteknologi Herba, Taman Teknologi Malaysia (TPM) di Raub, Pahang dan terbaru cadangan Taman Bioteknologi dan Herba Gua Musang di Kelantan, maka kedua-duanya harap menjadi pusat untuk menyediakan prasarana pemprosesan herba bagi tujuan komersial serta membantu usahawan. bioteknologi mendapatkan khidmat saintifik dan nasihat. Bagaimanapun Taman Bioteknologi dan Herba Gua Musang adalah antara salah satu projek baru yang dijalankan dalam peranca gan ECER. Ia akan dibina sebagai pusat kecemerlangan bagi ubat-ubatan alternatif dan organik. Taman ini terletak di kawasan 1,000 hektar dan di dalamnya termasuk taman satelit 50 hektar di Kuala Balah, Jeli. Ia diletakkan di bawah seliaan Lembaga Kemajuan Wilayah Kelantan Selatan (Kesedar) yang turut melibatkan kerjasama Felda, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan dan MARDI. Jika penduduk tempatan di ECER menyahut projek tanaman herba, barangkali tidak lama lagi seluruh dunia akan menggunakan produk berasaskan misai kucing, pegaga, roselle, halia, tongkat ali, serai, kesum, lengkuas, kunyit dan kemangi yang diperbuat dari Malaysia bersama logo ECER pada bungkusannya. Industri herba di negara ini boleh berjaya seperti produk ginseng di Korea Selatan yang terkenal dengan khasiat kesihatan apabila mampu memasarkannya di seluruh dunia. Dengan wujudnya taman bioteknologi herba dan ladang herba, rakyat yang bergantung sumber pendapatan dengan mencari herba di dalam hutan tidak perlu berbuat demikian lagi. Tumbuhan herba yang tumbuh di hutan Kelantan terutama di Gua Musang boleh ditanam secara ladang komersial. Dengan adanya pusat R&D di Gua Musang misalnya, kerajaan akan memberikan pendedahan dan pengetahuan kepada para petani mengenai kelebihan industri herba berpotensi tinggi. ECER adalah komitmen besar kerajaan dalam usaha meletakkan wilayah Pantai Timur setanding kawasan lain dari segi kemajuan dan taraf hidup masyarakatnya, golongan sasar terutama yang miskin tegar perlu menyahut seruan dan bersama dalam perubahan ini.
Oleh AZMAN ANUAR (WARTAWAN UTUSAN)