Sobre artigo relacionado à cadeia do agronegócio de plantas medicinais

Developing natural products and new value chains in Kelantan while maintaining cultural integrity: What, How and For Whom

by Prof. Murray Hunter

2012-12-09 11:09:06

Link para baixar o texto completo:

http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/9424

Abstract

Kelantan, situated in the Far North-East of the Malay Peninsula has been built upon the proud traditions of a rural based social-economy. The Malaysian state of Kelantan has been relatively independent, without direct foreign occupation and control since the early 1400s, except for short periods by the Siamese and Japanese. Malay tradition and culture is relatively undiluted in Kelantan in contrast with the other states in Malaysia. Maintaining cultural integrity and traditions is something important to both the social and spiritual identities and aspirations of the Kelantanese, and this factor must be considered in any potential development in the state.

Therefore the development of natural products in Kelantan must be approached differently from the rest of Malaysia due to the above cultural factors and aspirations of local people. Ignoring international opportunities for natural based products would disadvantage Kelantan, but at the same time ushering in large multinational companies to exploit Kelantan’s natural resources such as land would have high social costs from the Kelantanese perspective.

This implies that the development of natural products should be on a small enterprise scale rather than large enterprise scale, the new industries do not drastically change cultural conditions, and this be achieved with limited resources and more upon local exploration and cooperation, rather than outside interference. Consequently business models based on cooperative labour and shura decision systems, in decentralized production units would be a preferred option. Marketing paradigms need to be developed that carry Kelantanese culture as a theme specializing in particular niche markets need to accompany these new production models.

The potential for natural product development in Kelantan along the business models outlined above include herbs, essential oils, nutraceuticals, cosmoceuticals, natural dyes, Islamic medicines, food ingredients, traditional products, and some biotechnology based products including organic agricultural chemicals, all with Toyyib/Halal integrity can be developed and commercialized with specialized value chains based on low resource endowments. These products have specific markets nationally, regionally, and internationally through new supply chains developing across the world including organic, Fair-trade, and Halal markets.

This paper will discuss the above issues, canvass what products can be developed, how they can be developed and new value chains created, with a low resource endowment on the part of local entrepreneurs.

Issues and problems Encountered in New Crop Development

Issue	Comments
Focus Paradigm	Requires focus on concept of food where present focus is on cultivation This requires research This requires entrepreneurship approach Concepts not understood by farmers
Basic Research	Needs access to worldwide data Requires availability of suitable germ-plasmas Requires basic R&D to determine whether crop technically suitable Requires basic R&D to determine if potential crop is economically feasible
Crop Management & Processing	Propagation technologies How to plant, cultivate & manage to crop How to harvest, extract, store and handle How to process How to package Transportation and storage
Marketing Infrastructure	Require coordination of production with demand Require correct channels of distribution Requires a marketing strategy
Economies and Logistics	Requires enough volume to economically transport and distribute Requires solution to inconsistencies of quality and production
Organisation	Need committed people with strong leadership and trust
Government	Need to translate support into action Need funding allocations
Finance	Very difficult to obtain funding for these projects
Consumers	Need efforts for education & promotion

The Path to Development of Natural Products in Kelantan

Herbs, plant extracts, enzymes, and essential oils are all natural products that require agriculture production, processing, and a serious marketing effort. All these classes of products can be cultivated in Kelantan and have rapidly growing applications and international markets. Although herbs, plant extracts, enzymes and essential oils are diverse products, they share common plant based feed-stocks, however uses and markets are diverse as shown in Figure 2., The family tree of herb derivatives. Together herbs, plant extracts, enzymes, and essential oils make up a group of potential opportunities for agro-entrepreneurs.

Figure 2. The family tree of herb derivatives (Hunter 2011).