On the other hand, although developing Agarwood production is highly encouraged, there are still no appropriate incentive mechanisms and policies to facilitate it.
To solve the above situation, on 12/07/2022, at the Conference Center - Guest House, Government Office No. 10 Chu Van An, Ha Noi, a SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF AGARWOOD VIETNAM - CURRENT SITUATION AND SOLUTIONS by the Vietnam Institute for Research and Development of Medicine and Pharmacy; The Institute of Policy, Law and Management and the Vietnam Journal of Integration co-organised.
This is the first scientific conference about Agarwood topic with the participation of scientists, experts, prestigious scholars, businesses operating in the field of Agarwood, with the presence of a large number of press, television and media agencies; showed great interest in the development of Agarwood.
As one of the forest products with the most international commercial value, Agarwood is one of the species in the group of plants containing essential oils that can be used as medicinal herbs, flavorings and precious foods. In particular, Viet Nam is a country with great potential and advantages to develop high quality Agarwood in large output. However, so far, that potential has not been properly exploited and promoted, Viet Nam still has not had a brand of Agarwood that commensurate with the advantages it has.
There were several presentations showing at the seminar by: Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Sam - Vietnam Forestry University; Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Tuan Binh - Director of the Institute for Research and Development of Vietnamese Medicine and Pharmacy, Former Deputy Director of the Traditional Medicine Hospital of the Ministry of Public Security; Mr. Pham Thanh Tung - Deputy Director of the Institute of Agricultural Tourism Economics... all focused on affirming the precious values of Vietnamese Agarwood and at the same time, raising the current situation and proposing specific solutions for the Agarwood industry development. Especially the following presentations: Status and proposed solutions for conservation and development of natural types of Aquilaria tree in Vietnam presented by the Forest Survey and Planning Institute; Application of Agarwood in the research and development of Vietnamese Medicine and Pharmacy of the Institute of Research and Development of Vietnam Medicine and Pharmacy; The effectiveness of Agarwood in the field of economic development in the pure Agriculture area of the Institute of Agricultural Tourism Economics - were interested by the whole audiences.
From the perspective of policy, law and management, the presentation of the Institute of Policy, Law and Management clarified the current limitations and inadequacies related to mechanisms and policies to develop the Agarwood industry. At the same time, it gives many solutions and recommendations on policies and management to develop Vietnam's Agarwood industry, such as: The State should have a loan policy with preferential interest rates and loan terms to encourage the production since the growth of Aquilaria trees to cultivate agarwood takes a long time (over 10 years) and consumes a large amount of capital; the government should protect enterprises producing and exporting agarwood to foreign countries; should have policies to encourage research into bass-making technology to create high-quality products and to be able to widely transfer bass-making technology; Should have a mechanism to support full information on the agarwood market; and should have specific regulations on the quality of seedlings, professional support for workers in this field.
At the seminar, Chairman of the Board of Directors, General Director of TTT Bio-Agarwood Joint Stock Company, and Director of Vietnam Agarwood Research and Development Center (under the Vietnam Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy) Le Van Giang presented on "Green solution for Vietnam's agarwood industry" - TTT Agarwood implantation technology - Perforation and biostimulation implemented on hundreds of hectares of Aquilaria farms owned by the company.
According to Mr. Giang, this is a safe transplanting method that has a positive effect on the populations of Aquilaria (Do Bau) trees because it does not kill the trees, and brings high economic efficiency by actively creating agarwood, while at the same time have positive effect on environmental protection, conservation and maintenance of this precious tree species. The current bio-agarwood generation technology of TTT Company is highly appreciated by domestic and foreign experts, considering it as an effective solution for the sustainable development of Vietnamese agarwood.
The workshop received a lot of useful comments from the delegates with multi-dimensional and objective perspectives on the current situation as well as recommendations for solutions to develop Vietnam's agarwood industry in accordance with its potential. Notably, a speech by Mr. Rishi Firoz - Business Development Manager of Leading Performance Life University (LPU - Singapore), who has many years of experience in the Agarwood consumption and trading agarwood, talked about the potential of the world agarwood market when the supply is increasingly depleted and expensive, and expressed his desire to cooperate with organizations or companies that can supply clean agarwood products in large quantities.
According to Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Sam - Vietnam National University of Forestry: The workshop gave an overview of the Vietnamese agarwood industry, creating an opportunity to exchange opinions of experts in relevant departments to evaluate from the theoretical to the practical the economic values, the potential of scientific application of agarwood as well as the urgency in the conservation and development of the Aquilaria tree through appropriate mechanisms and policies. That is the basis to build an appropriate legal system and quality assessment mechanism to strongly develop the Viet Nam Agarwood industry.
