Natural Trees

Reliable network & supply source of Wild Natural trees

DISTRIBUTION OF TREES

HOME GARDEN

WILD AGAR FORMATION

OUR ACTIVITIES

HISTORICAL TRADE

DISTRIBUTION OF TREES

Agarwood trees grow naturally in the Northeast of India, in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. It is a commonly growing tree in the plains and hills that have highly humid, sub-tropical climate with an annual rainfall of around 1,800-3,500 mm. While A. khasiana is mainly found in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, A. malaccensis or A. agallocha is native to the rest of North Eastern states. The species A.malaccensis has three variants, one of which is locally called Jati Sanchi, which is mostly susceptible to fungal infections and Agar formation.

Agarwood is the most common species in the home gardens of both Upper Assam and some parts of the processing areas of Hojai and Lanka, as well as the other states of the region. Agarwood has been planted as a shade trees in most of the tea gardens of Assam, and it has proved to be one of the most successful and compatible Agarwood-growing models. The climate is also ideal for Agarwood cultivation.

DISTRIBUTION OF TREES

Agarwood trees grow naturally in the Northeast of India, in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. It is a commonly growing tree in the plains and hills that have highly humid, sub-tropical climate with an annual rainfall of around 1,800-3,500 mm. 

Agarwood trees grow naturally in the Northeast of India, in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. It is a commonly growing tree in the plains and hills that have highly humid, sub-tropical climate with an annual rainfall of around 1,800-3,500 mm. While A. khasiana is mainly found in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, A. malaccensis or A. agallocha is native to the rest of North Eastern states. The species A.malaccensis has three variants, one of which is locally called Jati Sanchi, which is mostly susceptible to fungal infections and Agar formation.

Agarwood is the most common species in the home gardens of both Upper Assam and some parts of the processing areas of Hojai and Lanka, as well as the other states of the region. Agarwood has been planted as a shade trees in most of the tea gardens of Assam, and it has proved to be one of the most successful and compatible Agarwood-growing models. The climate is also ideal for Agarwood cultivation.

According to a survey by the Forest Department of Assam in 2003-04, more than 90,00,000 trees were counted in the home gardens and private farmlands of North Eastern states. Every year, farmers harvested over 7,28,000 trees and supplied them to 9,100 Agar oil extraction factories. The local trade centres of Nyamathi and Nahorani in Upper Assam supplied harvested Agarwood to Islamnagar, Lanka and Hojai for processing. Further, while over 50,000 farmers/workers were involved in the Agarwood business directly, over 1,50,000 people indirectly benefited from it.

Conservation of the species in its natural habitat is possible only through the domestication of the wild species. Currently, there are hardly any Agarwood trees in the wild. According to an estimate, there are over 20 million trees in the private farmlands of Upper Assam and other North Eastern states.

 

In several instances, government institutions and forest departments have developed Agarwood trees under the various wasteland management schemes. The Forest Department of Assam also developed some plantations under the afforestation schemes. Recently, Arunachal Pradesh converted large areas of degraded forests into Agarwood plantations through its Silviculture Department.

At Vanadurgi, naturally growing trees in the home gardens, tea estates and private lands of small farmers are purchased and processed into chips and oudh oil. We have developed a good Agarwood sourcing network by establishing long-term and close contacts with the people of North Eastern region.

Home Gardens

Agriculture is a way of life for people in the North Eastern states of India. For the marginalised, native, tribal communities there, Agar is a source of economic empowerment. By planting Agar trees in their small and medium-sized land holdings and home gardens, such rural communities are creating economic opportunities for themselves. Such plantation initiatives are also environment-friendly, and generate a healthy ecosystem.

Agarwood growing Upper Assam region is agriculture-based and home gardens are one of the prominent land use system. Agar is  the most common cultivated tree species in the home gardens of Upper Assam. Agar generated substantial income and contributed significantly to the total income of a family. The income from agar for individual family depend mainly on various factors such as number of aged tree, their girth, natural infection etc. In general good number of trees with high rate of infection and in compare to newly planted young trees signifies better economical status of the owning family.

Tree density of Agar per home garden may range from a few trees and go up to 300 trees. Owners plant Agar seedlings in high density systems, very close to one another, in various dimensions, and also along the boundary of the fence. The spacing is as low as 3 ft X 3 ft in some gardens. High density facilitates borer attacks, which will eventually help the spread of fungal infection as trees are grown very close to one other.

Agriculture in north-eastern part of India, is a  a way of life, culture and custom in addition to an important occupation of the people. Even in the places of Agarwood processing such as Hojai and Lanka and surrounding villagers, seedlings have been planted since past few years, enabling peoples to plant own Agarwood in their home and other small tracts of land. Such home gardens were also identified as a prospective income source. And Agarwood turned as one of the promising crop  which is boosting the economy of the local people and region.

For the marginalised, native, tribal communities in Northeast India agar is an source of economic empowerment.  By planting Agar trees in their small, middle sized land holdings, such rural communities are creating economic developments. Such plantation initiatives are environmental friendly and generating a healthy ecosystem. Owners become environmentally responsible by planting trees that improve our world for today, and tomorrow. By creating livelihood opportunities naturally would owners are contributing to the social and economic development of working families. Home gardens are profitable and also great for the country.

Wild Agar FORMATION

The process of Agar oil formation in the Assam region is natural, and quite interesting. Stem borer Zeuzera conferta bores the Agar tree, making hollow tunnels inside. Fungus enters the plant through the vertical hollows of the zigzag tunnels which act as primary sites of infection. Later, fungal infection spreads to tissues, and larger parts of wood volumes get infected. Insect boring and fungal infections do not depend on the age of trees. Insects may bore even young plants that are just three years old, and in such cases, plants may die due to over-stress. If the fungal infection happens when the plants are five or six years old, then the trees will survive. About 10 years are sufficient to access commercial Agarwood. The quantity and quality of resinous Agarwood formation depends on the intensity, frequency, and duration of insect infestation and infection.

The formation of Agarwood is generally associated with the wounding and fungal infection of Aquilaria trees. The resin is secreted by the trees as a defense reaction and deposited around the wounds over the years following the injury, where the accumulation of the volatile compounds eventually forms Agarwood. The accumulated oleoresins produce precious Agar oil and Agaru, and become odoriferous. Accumulation of oleoresins gets deeper as per the rate and the ageing of infection. As more oleoresins are deposited, the colour of the infected wood gets intensified and changes from brown to black.

Naturally, Agarwood formation is due to the physical wounding or damage of trees caused by thunder strike, animal grazing, pests and diseases, which expose the inner part of the trees to fungal microbes, which initiate the defense mechanism of trees for resin production. Native farmers apply mechanical injuries before the spring season by making deep cuts with a sharp axe. Such artificial injuries provide an infection site for fungus and also push the tree to undergo stress. Many traditional wounding techniques include nailing, holing, burning, trunk breaking and bark removal to create physical wounding and stress to develop Agar.

In a natural forest, on an average, only 7% of Agar trees may become infected, but in Upper Assam, over 50% of trees get infected, and hence productive. Based on the rate of infection, these trees are classified as slightly infected, moderately infected, and severely affected. The ‘Dum Type’ of product obtained out of these kinds of treatment is locally called as ‘Ghap Mal’, which goes for extraction. When harvested, the severely infected parts, known as ‘Batali Mal’ are separated, from which chips are carved.

Our Activities

Vanadurgi Agarwood India Limited is closely associated with the wild tree hunters, farmers and grower assostions of the north eastern states. The company has established a strong wild natural Agarwood sourcing network in the Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya states of Northeast India, where we have set up primary processing units in collaboration with our associates. Our company is engaged in the purchase of Agarwood trees from the natural trees hunters where in trees are sourced from the Tea estates and Home gardens.  Such Agarwood logs from suppliers are segregated at our associated facility into chips and extraction grade depending on resin content in the material. All these products are purchased by Vanadurgi for realistic price, providing helping hand for farmers and suppliers.

Vanadurgi has installed traditional Oud oil extraction factories are set up in the upper Assam region and the adjoining states in association with our partners. In such processing units Chips are curved and wood quantise with less resin content are further processed in to oil. New systems has been implemented in agar oil production units. Steam distillation or hydro distillation is followed depending on the product requirement of customers. Agar Boya or Agar wax is extracted from the non-infected white wood. We have set up 500 kg to 1000 kg capacity units at some of our primary processing factories. We focus on each and every step as right from harvesting to processing to get maximum oil content. All these collective efforts leading to the production of best quality wild wood Chips.

Vanadurgi Foundation

Vanadurgi Foundation works hand in hand with the Agarwood growers of the North Eastern states of India by rendering several services to encourage them to plant more and more Agarwood plants in their home gardens, wastelands, and tea estates. We offer end-to-end support to farmers on various aspects of Agarwood, right from scientific cultivation to the harvesting of mature trees. Innovative agricultural technologies are brought to the doorsteps of home gardens to enhance the economic growth of Agarwood growers. For the benefit of the farming community, Vanadurgi Foundation is introducing new crops which are grown in their climatic zones. All these crops are introduced in the inter-cropping system along with Agarwood, so that the farmers will not be financially burdened in any way. Vanadurgi Foundation strives to implement various contract farming projects on behalf of the Vanadurgi Group, which is the backbone of these agro projects, providing buy-back arrangements, inputs, and technical guidelines for the cultivation of crops. In some places where there is no natural formation of Agarwood we are providing our services in the artificial inoculation in the way which is resembling natural phenomena of Agar resin formation. As a farmer-friendly organisation, we offer realistic, reasonable price for the farmers’ inventories depending on market trends and prices.

Our Expectations

We are involved in the process of  to creating a regulatory policy for Agar. Our voice is that the governments of the North Eastern states must ensure incentives to growers to cultivate Agarwood in private farm lands. Government must ensure sustainable utilisation of Agarwood including harvesting, processing, transit and trade. There is a need to develop suitable strategies to augment its natural regeneration, artificial regeneration, and conservation. Addressing research and development for sustainable harvesting would propagate a better structure of Agar plantation. Besides, industrial units for Agarwood processing and marketing must also be regulated. All our activities will help the aboriginal communities to create their own investments to increase the per capita income as well as enhance their quality of life.

Historical Trade

Agarwood gained great cultural and religious significance in ancient India, being described as a fragrant product in the Vedas as early as 1400 BCE. ‘Agaru’, a name derived from Sanskrit, later became Agar in Hindi, from which the word Agarbathi was coined. For ages, India was the centre of production and trade of Agarwood.  Agarwood was sourced from different parts of the North Eastern states, and then processed into wood, chips, oil, powder and other commercial products which are used for perfumes, incense, and medicines.

Agarwood was mainly exported to countries in the Middle East from Mumbai and Kolkata. Owing to the scarcity of Agarwood in India, traders and suppliers shifted their base to Southeast Asian countries, especially Singapore. 

Wild A. malaccensis was considered almost extinct in Assam. Due to the shortage of the raw material, trade had declined over the past 15-20 years. Fortunately, owing to the sufficient availability of raw material now, the trade is currently seeing an upward trend. Although there are strict government regulations in place with the Department of Industries issuing valid licences to only a few processing units, trade in Agarwood is on in a brisk pace in various parts of Assam.

Wild Agarwood was heavily extracted from various North Eastern states including Arunachal Pradesh and Assam from the late 1950s to the early 1980s, virtually exhausting the natural stock. The Indian Forest Act, 1927 regulates domestic harvests and both intra- and inter-state transport of Agarwood. Controls are implemented through a permit system, LTP (Lieu Transit Passes) and TP (Transport permit) that is managed by the Department of Forestry.

Unsustainable logging and trafficking of Agarwood from the natural forest has forced the government to bring international trade within sustainable limits. A. malaccensis and A. agallocha have therefore been listed as critically endangered species in India under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora  (CITES 2009) and are almost extinct in the wild in Assam.

The Draft Policy for Sustainable Utilisation of Agarwood, 2014, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has set management initiatives for the sustainable utilisation of Agarwood. These include the documentation of information on geographical distribution and resource base; packages for cultivation, value additions, and market status; domestic policies for growers by the state governments concerned; and the formation of rules and regulations for harvesting, marketing, industries, and trade policies.

A Non-Detriment Finding (NDF) study is currently going on, by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, to list out the trees on ground, estimate regeneration, and enable CITES permits for exports. Now, because of the number of Agarwood trees in both private as well as government lands, there is an abundance of raw materials, forcing the government to make necessary changes to the Agarwood trade policy and legalise its trade, thus giving the necessary boost to the Agarwood industry in Northeast India.