Agarwood, produced by trees of the genus Aquilariain response to wounding and infection by fungi such as Fusarium, has a long history as one of the most valuable non-timber forest products in SE Asia, providing income to forest-dependent people. With the emergence of controlled infection with Fusarium concoctions of Aquilaria trees planted in monocultural plantations or as under story on tree crop plantations or agroforests, considerable shifts in the location of production, in the balance of supply and demand, and hence in the price can be expected. We provide an overview of current use, grading and demand, as well as current supply, based on literature and trade data. Description of the current state of biotechnology and its main actors, is followed by an estimate of the way supply from domesticated sources will undercut current collection of agarwood as forest product. Between 2010 and 2020 domesticated sources are expected to fully replace forest collection, with a fall in price by a factor of about 2. Early adopters among the rubber (and other) agroforest owners in the relevant agroecological domain are likely to benefit substantially, while later adopters will still get are source competitive to rubber trees per unit space. Active spreading of knowledge on the agarwood biotechnology is in the interest of the managers of diverse rubber agroforests. |
