Spotlight: A wealth of herbs goes untapped

NST: The herb-based product industry has been indentified under the Third Agricultural Policy as having the potential to be developed into a major industry. YONG TIAM KUI takes a look at the successes the industry it has had in R&D and the challenges it faces.
The Malaysian market for herb-based products, including health supplements, traditional herbals, cosmetics and fragrances is estimated to be worth about RM4.55 billion a year, but the irony is that 95 per cent of it is imported.
Why the irony? Malaysia is the world’s 12th top mega diversity country, which means the raw material is available, and there is also the expertise to turn the raw material in products for consumers.
Forest Research Industry of Malaysia director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Razak Mohd Ali said there is a lot of potential for growth because the global market for herb-based products is estimated to be worth a staggering US$80 billion (RM303 billion).
"Since the Government is promoting Malaysia as a halal hub, we can also go into this market. It’s big and growing (the herbal market), especially in the Middle East.

But he laments that the local herbal production industry is handicapped as most of it is carried out on a very small scale.
"There are hardly any big players in Malaysia. There are 4,000 small set-ups and only five medium-sized enterprises.
"Most of these people lack the resources and expertise to carry out large scale cultivation, research, marketing, investment in machinery, business expansion and improved packaging.
Because of this, the industry faces a number of major problems, including the shortage of quality raw materials and lack of standards and quality assurance, technological mechanisation, skilled human resources and scientific evidence for health related claims.
Owing to the shortage of raw materials, much of the ingredients used in the production of herbal products such as tumeric, ginger, serai wangi and sirih have to imported even though they can be easily grown in the country.
Razak said the "mismatch" between growers and companies that produce herbal products is another problem.
"Felda has plenty of land and a lot of people are growing herbs in the kampung but how do you get the herbs to the manufacturers who need them as raw ingredients?
"If a company needs a consistent supply of turmeric, it would be forced to import the product from India because there is no way to source for it locally."

Razak said that effective marketing was also something that was very lacking in the local herbal industry.
"It is not enough to just come up with products. The marketing has to be there. We also need to have packaging that looks classy.
"But the people who are involved in the industry lack the know-how and resources to market their products."
He noted that it is difficult to market local herbal products because very few Malaysians are familiar with local herbs.
Malaysians, he added, have a preference for imported products.
"If you ask Malaysians about echinacea, they will probably know what you are talking about.
"But they don’t know about selasih, senduduk and other local herbs used by our forefathers. At the most, they only know about tongkat ali.
"Our people have been using mengkudu for a very long time. Then these white people brought in noni juice which is the same thing and everybody got so excited.
Malaysians must be willing to accept our products."
Razak said there was a need for greater collaboration between the industry and government agencies.
He stressed that the Government is committed to developing the herbal industry and points to the fact that the Women’s Health and Asian Traditional Medicine Conference and Exhibition at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur on July 28-30 is being supported by eight ministries.
These include the Health Ministry, Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry, Entrepreneurial and Co-operative Development Ministry and Rural and Regional Development Ministry.