Proceedings of The Workshop On Agarwood Grading Method Development Through an Integrated Scientific Approach

Under research project entitled “Membangunkan Strategi Pemuliharaan dan Menambahbaik Kualiti Hasil Spesies Aquilaria Terpilih Secara Lestari di Malaysia” (PHSB-09-2020), Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) has organised “Workshop on Agarwood Grading Method Development through an Integrated Scientific Approach” on 2-4 August 2023. The workshop was attended by stakeholders, researchers, lecturers from industry, universities and government agencies. This workshop highlighted results from research activities on grading agarwood in Malaysia.

A total of 6 papers were presented during this workshop during the first day. The topics are i) Agarwood Product Classification, ii) Monitoring/enforcement agarwood in Peninsular Malaysia, iii) Application of DNA barcoding to determine agarwood species origin and authenticity, iv) Development and application of E-nose technology for agarwood quality assessment, v) The capability of artificial intelligence in grading the agarwood essential oil, and vi) Agarwood’s quality research and development: FRIM perspective. On the second day, panel sensory session on grading wood and agarwood oil was held together with the workshop participants. The purpose of this session is to coordinate preliminary information to formulate a model for grading agarwood in a scientific manner that can be used by the Malaysian agarwood industry.

This workshop provided relevant and significant insights on the future of agarwood grading in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the workshop established a good opportunity to foster networking among researchers and industry. In conclusion, this workshop has successfully achieved the targeted objectives and it is hoped that this kind of workshop will be held from time to time to ensure the continuity and progressive agarwood grading system in Malaysia.