Pages

Friday, March 06, 2009

BPPT, Korea conduct join research on wild tropical plants

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Technological Research and Application Agency (BPPT) and the Korean Research International Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) have established cooperation in research on wild plants from Indonesian forests for medicines and health food. 

"BPPT has collected extracts of 300 wild plants from Ujung Kulon and Mt. Halimun national parks in 2008," BPPT`s Agroindustry and Biotechnology Deputy Prof Dr Wahono Sumaryono said at Serpong, on Thursday on the sidelines of the signing of the second phase of BPPT and KRIBB cooperation. 

The extracts of the 300 wild plants were researched by BPPT in Indonesia and KRIBB in South Korea this years under the Material Transfer Agreement in line with the existing regulation in Indonesia, he said. 

The research was expected to yield results beneficial for both nation and for a commercial purpose. 

Korea provided US$100,000 in funds in 2008 and around 840,000 Won in 2009 for the research project, he said. 

Meanwhile KRIBB President Dr Young Hoon said that it would be too early for the research project to yield herbal medicines or health food for commercial purpose. 

"It takes more than eight or 10 years for a research to produce commercial results," he said. 

BPPT Chairman Dr Marzan Aziz said Indonesia should learn from South Korea which is very advanced in biotechnology, as the world would enter the bioeconomy era by 2030.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.