Cultivating agarwood in Bhutan

Agarwood from Bhutan is said to be among the best in the world but there are very few Aquilaria trees left and naturally occurring agarwood from forests is no longer available. After discussions with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, we established an experimental study in a plantation of Aquilaria trees located in southern Bhutan to demonstrate our methods of agarwood inducement. Techniques used were those that have been proven to work in other countries. The Minister of Agriculture, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, the Secretary of Agriculture Dasho Sangay Thinley and other Ministry officials have reviewed the results of the trials and an expanded cooperative project is now being developed. We are now in the process of securing funding from foundations, individuals and international agencies to bring this technology to the farmers of southern Bhutan. This will provide a sustainable production of agarwood, a new source of income for the farmers and the extraordinary agarwood from Bhutan will once again be available for use in traditional Bhutanese medicine and as an incense and oil. Contributions to this important work can be made on line. See contributions page for details.