21/11/05 (The Star)  -  FOR almost 50 years, Federal Land Development Authority has made numerous inroads in the cultivation of oil palm and rubber, providing a better life for its settlers.
Today, Felda is making a mark in yet another area – herbs and herbal products. 
It has created Felda Herbal Corporation Sdn Bhd (FHC) to tap into the herbal market. 
“The herbal industry is one of the new agendas for Felda,” said FHC chief executive officer Hairuddin Md Bakri. 

PRODUCT RANGE: FHC is already marketing 19 products under the Biofeld brand.

“We’re hoping that what Felda is doing would benefit settlers and the people as a whole and make herbs an income earner for the nation,” said Hairuddin.
Herb-based products are in big demand not only by the beauty industry but also for health requirements.
It is estimated that world market for herb-based products would reach RM760bil a year by 2008, a threefold increase from 2003.
The herbal industry in Malaysia is reported to have achieved an annual sales of more than RM4.5bil and the figure is expected to double by 2010. 
 
Hairuddin: ‘Only about 1% of herbs commercialised’

According to Hairuddin, herbs are health food supplements.
“They are used as a preventive measure rather than used to treat a condition.”
Tongkat Ali, Kacip Fatimah, pegaga, bitter gourd and misai kucing are some of the local herbs that are increasingly making their mark these days.
Hairuddin said there are about 2,000 species of herbs in Malaysia and only about 1% had been commercialised.
He said Malaysia's herbal industry was lagging 20 years behind countries such as India, South Korea and China.
“India, China and South Korea are very advanced. South Korea for example has 100 years of experience in herbal consumption. 
“They don’t need many herbs to develop, maybe one or two like the Korean Red Ginseng,” said Hairuddin.
He said Malaysia could achieve greater heights in the herbal industry if R&D efforts are stepped up and co-ordinated.
Set up to enter the herbal business, FHC became more active from April, said Hairuddin, adding that it would also undertake R&D, planting, biotechnology development and marketing.

HEALTH POTENTIAL: FHC is working with an Indian company to produce a new product from the Ati-Ati plant. The Indian variant of the Ati-Ati herb (Coleus Forskholli) contains ‘forskhollin’, used to treat obesity.

“Ideally, we should have our own herbal plantation and extraction plant. 
“What we’re doing is the reverse as we don’t have much time. We’re into marketing first as we wanted to see the sector's potential and the customers’ taste while the products are produced by contract manufacturing,” he said.
Despite being new to the herbal business, FHC has to date 19 herb-based products, marketed under the brand Biofeld.
They include a maternity set, hair care, energy drinks, herbal tea such as Kaffir Lime Leaf tea and Misai Kucing tea besides extracts of pegaga, bitter gourd and hempedu bumi which are sold in capsules.
According to Hairuddin, Biofeld products are marketed only after the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau of the Health Ministry has certified them and they have fulfilled the Good Manufacturing Practices requirement.
Multi-level marketing is being used to market Biofeld products and Hairuddin said FHC is the only government-linked herbal company using this method.
The marketing technique has also provided opportunities for Felda settlers and their children to become entrepreneurs, he said.
“There are settlers who became our stockists, earning up to RM4,000 a month but you have to work hard to achieve such targets,” said Hairuddin.
By the end of the year, the sale of Biofeld products is expected to reach about RM4mil.