I do not understand why Gaharu hunters do not take seedlings into the forests with them each time they go out and plant them in miscellaneous places. I have seen photos on agarharvests website of seedlings ready to ship and also seeds for sale. Thousands of seedlings are ready to go at a moments notice. They are in Thailand but this could conceivably be done in any country where agarwood is native or already growing. Even though the seeds are only viable for a short period of time they could have someone camp out at a tree ready to release its seed and capture the seeds and plant them in jiffy cups and nurture the seedlings for a year before planting them in random places in the forests. If I were a Gaharu hunter I would have been doing this all along, every year, so I would have a continued livelihood. Why don't these guys do this?
Why is agarwood becoming extinct in the wild?
- Thread starter humbll
- Start date
I'm surprised no one has answered this yet. I'll try and share what I know. Here's the easiest answer of whats happening. The jungle/forest is being sold to the highest bidder. Some acres of jungle is given to the highest bidder to search and look for agarwood. So it is a matter of land claims.
Also, in some of the jungles you have snipers and army men ready to shoot down intruders so the risks are very high. In some places on a normal scavenger hunt for agarwood some of the men do not make it back home. Lots of dangers in the jungle do exist from man eating insects to wild animals. In a lot of places agarwood activity is illegal as well. You need licenses and certificates to move it.
So now the question than is why would someone risk there lives to plant a seed when they can barely look for the wood itself? You also do all that work to plant a seed for another man to one day take the fruits of your labor.
This is based off question/answer sessions I had with more experienced people. I'm sure the likes of Ensar and Agar Aura can talk about it further and you can also look on there website for more info.
Adding some more info on regards to the extinction. Simple answer is Supply and Demand. Supply is low and demand is high. Whatever easy access agarwood hunters can find probably already has been accessed. So now these hunters are forced to move deeper into the jungle which is unknown territory. Dangers are lurking around the corner. Also, there's no easy access roads or paths to these places so the time it takes to find a tree and cut pieces of agarwood is time consuming. Also, they can only take a few KG's with them as they don't have moving vehicles or any easy transport facilities. There's a lot that goes into the tasks it takes to get your mere 3gr bottle of oudh. This is not even mentioning the distillation, marketing, etc.
Ali
Also, in some of the jungles you have snipers and army men ready to shoot down intruders so the risks are very high. In some places on a normal scavenger hunt for agarwood some of the men do not make it back home. Lots of dangers in the jungle do exist from man eating insects to wild animals. In a lot of places agarwood activity is illegal as well. You need licenses and certificates to move it.
So now the question than is why would someone risk there lives to plant a seed when they can barely look for the wood itself? You also do all that work to plant a seed for another man to one day take the fruits of your labor.
This is based off question/answer sessions I had with more experienced people. I'm sure the likes of Ensar and Agar Aura can talk about it further and you can also look on there website for more info.
Adding some more info on regards to the extinction. Simple answer is Supply and Demand. Supply is low and demand is high. Whatever easy access agarwood hunters can find probably already has been accessed. So now these hunters are forced to move deeper into the jungle which is unknown territory. Dangers are lurking around the corner. Also, there's no easy access roads or paths to these places so the time it takes to find a tree and cut pieces of agarwood is time consuming. Also, they can only take a few KG's with them as they don't have moving vehicles or any easy transport facilities. There's a lot that goes into the tasks it takes to get your mere 3gr bottle of oudh. This is not even mentioning the distillation, marketing, etc.
Ali