Name: Alvin Tung Kwong Choong( BK12110017) Session 1

Main Title: The Commercialisation of the Herbal Industry In Malaysia

Research and Development (R&D) as a way to commercialise the

herbal industry in Malaysia.
There are about 2000 species of herbs in Malaysia and only
about one percent is being commercialized. Malaysias local herbal
industry is lagging 20 years behind countries such as India, South
Korea and China.
Federal Herbal Corporation Sdn Bhd (FHC) Chief Excutive
Officer,

Hairuddin Md Bakri

One of the main reasons why Malaysia is lagging behind other

countries is a lack of Research and Development (R&D) a lack of
scientific proof, evidence and research on safety , efficacy and
standardisation of herbal products to elevate it to a profitable business.
Malaysia, one of the seventeen Megadiversity countries, has the
worlds oldest tropical rainforest. Malaysias tropical rainforest is the
home to about 12% of all plant species on the earth, of the estimated
15,000 known plant species, 3,700 are known to be useful, 2,000
species have medicinal value and the balance remain largely
unexploited and cultivated. (Ramlan,2010,pg.8) Malaysia provides
varieties of flora and fauna to explore. Malaysia is the ideal country for
commercialisation of herbal products due to its herbal resources and
hence there are good chances to supply to the world. One of the main
way to enhance commercialisation of herbal products in Malaysias
herbal

industry

is

Research

and

Development

biotechnological development, discovery of new

(R&D)

through

varieties of herbal

products and improvement of planting and harvesting technologies.

According to InvestorWords.com , R&D means discovering new

knowledge about products, processes and services and then applying
that knowledge to create new and improved products, processes and
services that fill market needs. (2003)Herbs has been widely used by
older generation especially our ancestors in the treatment of many
ailments and beauty concerns before modern medicine discovered.
Besides that, herbs have no side effects compared to modern medicine
and are most suitable supplement to prevent some diseases. So, R&D
should be done in

Malaysia due to its valuable natural resources.

However, the effort towards commercialisation through R&D is much

less in our country. Actually there are several R&D have been done in
some universities such as USM

(Universiti Sains Malaysia),UM

(Universiti Malaya) and UTM (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia) but the

results havent used for commercialisation. Another problems faced by
local herbal industry is too much focus onto very few types of herbs
like Tongkat Ali. Besides that, our country also faces problem in getting
world recognition because

lack of scientific proof and evidence

regarding the specific type of herbal products. Lack of certification

from government such as Ministry Of Health Malaysia and scientific
organisations

such

commercialisation.

as

SIRIM

Berhad

also

one

of

obstacles