UMK to commercialise black ginger-based health products

KOTA BHARU: Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) through the Faculty of Bioengineering and Technology (FBKT) is developing a pilot project to commercialise agroforestry farming and black ginger-based health products.

FBKT senior lecturer Prof Dr Wan Mohd Faizal Wan Ishak said UMK, in collaboration with Magica Wisdom, is planting 200,000 black ginger seedlings grown organically without using chemical fertilisers.

He said the plant has big potential in the market apart from being a species of medicinal herb plant from the ginger family and has been used as a traditional medicine for centuries.

“Among the findings include its ability to increase the body’s cell metabolism activity, anticancer, relaxation of blood vessels, heart protection, increased sexual activity, nerve protection, anti-allergic and anti-bacterial.

“Our studies have also shown that black ginger gives health protection and energy strength and we are still conducting indepth research to understand the reaction mechanism that occurs in the body,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Wan Mohd Faizal said black ginger has a very high content of two active ingredients, namely bioflavonoids and methoxyflavone which are absolutely necessary for the human body to repair the system and it has a quick restorative effect.

“It is quite difficult to obtain black ginger in Malaysia and it is one of the factors that make the plant not as popular as other herbs.

This plant originates from Thailand and Cambodia and is commonly imported from foreign countries such as Thailand, Taiwan and India.

“Therefore, the price is quite expensive and can reach RM500 to RM1000 per kilogramme, apart from its cultivation in Malaysia is still quite limited as it is susceptible to disease,” he said.