Name: Alvin Tung Kwong Choong( BK12110017) Session 1Main Title: The Commercialisation of the Herbal Industry In MalaysiaIndividual Topic: Research and Development (R&D) as a way to commercialise the herbal industry in MalaysiaBody Paragraph 1One of the ways to enhance commercialisation through R&D is through biotechnological development. Biotechnology is the global technology for the 21st century. It helps to build up our research community and creates tremendous benefits not only for herbal industries but for generating new products and job opportunities. Biotechnology development will ensure our country herbal industry to have ability to process herb materials to higher value products from low cost production of the herb materials. As we know, Malaysia is rich in biological resources and therefore can be the source of natural products and can lead to new pharmaceuticals. (Christopher D. Howe, 1997, pg. 315) Plant biotechnological application like tissue culture to derive high quality planting sources has been done in Malaysia for some times. (Rita Manurung, Kueh Hong Siong, 1997, pg. 23.) However, biotechnology development in our local herbal industry is much more critical compared with other countries for several reasons. One of the challenges faced by local herbal industry is lack of talent and well-trained work force which can define and devise strategies. The other problem is infrastructure capable of main-training biotechnological research and development. (Kenneth L. Giles, 2007, pg. 273) Most of the university structure and research facilities in Malaysia are not fulfiling biotechnology development requirements due to economics limitations such as expensive equipment and supplies necessary for many forms of biotech. One of the ways to solve this problem is to send talent to learn from the countries which lead the biotechnology development such as United Kingdom and Canada. Besides that, investment in biotechnology development should be done by both government and private sector so that more innovative and creative strategies can be implemented.Body Paragraph 2Another method to enhance commercialisation through R&D is to discover and develop varieties of herbal products. R&D into varieties of herbal plants not only help us to discover more valuable herbal plants and improve our research community, besides also generate our countrys income if a new species of plants have been discovered which is the cure in some specific treatment such as AIDS or H1N1. In Malaysia, R&D towards commercialisation of herbal products only focuses on 10 herbal plants Tongkat Ali, Kicap Fatimah, Misai Kucing, Dukung Anak and Hempedu Bumi, Pegaga, Ginger, Mengkudu, Roselle and Mas Cotek. (Ramlan, 2007, pg. 18) What a pity if only R&D only focus into 10 types of herbal plants if we tell the others Malaysia has more than 2000 species of plants which has medicinal value! Actually there are more and more herbal plants which also have commercialisation value such as Aloe Vera, buah pala and rotan gunung. For an example, according to National Center Of Complementary and Alternative Medicine(NCCAM), Aloe Vera is not longer only able to heal wounds, burns and various skin conditions and nowadays is used widely as a folk remedy for a variety of conditions such as diabetes and asthma. Malaysia has a very suitable climate for planting Aloe Vera . Why dont try we to commercialise it? In order to create a varieties of herbal products and play as a major player in global market, Malaysia should be dare to try and discover some new species of herbal plants through R&D which have medicinal value to fulfil the markets need.Body Paragraph 3Another way to enhance commercialisation through R&D is to improve planting and harvesting technologies. Improving and developing planting and harvesting technologies will produce the herbal products with high quality with high efficiency at low cost. Harvesting machines and tools such as tractor, transplanter, sprayer, low energy water applicaton, solar tunnel dryer are some of the creative operations have been done in Malaysia to achieve productivity and profitability. (Malaysia Council Of Agricultural Research, 2009, pg. 165) However, most of the operations are not familiar. Besides, most of the universities and research facilities in Malaysia do not have complete facilities and machines due to economics limitations such as expensive equipment. Without innovative R&D, Malaysias local herbal industry will lag behind other countries although we have many natural herbal resources. One of the ways to resolve this issue is to attract more foreign investment into this field. The reasons is when they invest in our country, they also bring in their technologies as well and thus will develop and improve our existing technologies which maybe outdated. Besides, the cooperation between private and government sector should be carried out so that exchanging idea can be carried out.