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Journal of Ethnopharmacology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jethpharm

Twists, turns and trade: A new look at the Indian Screw tree (Helicteres isora)

A.B. Cunninghama,b,⁎, W. Ingramc, J.A. Brinckmannd, M. Nesbitte

a School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, King Edward Avenue, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africab School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South St., Murdoch, WA 6150, Australiac Threads of Life: Indonesian Textiles Arts Centre, Jalan Kajeng 24, Ubud 80571, Bali, Indonesiad Traditional Medicinals, 4515 Ross Road, Sebastopol, CA 95472, USAe Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK

A R T I C L E I N F O

Keywords:HistoryValue-chainsJamuInternational tradeTeak agroforestry systems

A B S T R A C T

Ethnopharmacological relevance: This is the first study of global trade in fruits of the widely used traditionalmedicine, Helicteres isora L. It is used in Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani medical systems and/or local folk traditionalmedicines in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The roots are used in Traditional Chinese Medicines in China andthe fruits in jamu products in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. In addition, H. isora fruits are also used in"traditional" medical systems far beyond the natural distribution of this species, for example in Zulu herbalmedicine (South Africa) and Kurdish herbal medicines (Iraq).Aims of the study: This study had three aims: (i) to assess the global trade in H. isora fruits; (ii) to study the H.isora trade from West Timor to Java in terms of actors and prices along the value chain and (iii) to get a betterunderstanding of the potential of this species to improve household income in eastern Indonesia.Materials and methods: This study uses historical records, a contemporary analysis of global trade data(2014–2016) and field assessments of value chains and the biological factors influencing H. isora fruit produc-tion.Results: Globally, the major exporter of H. isora fruits is India, which exports H. isora fruits to 19 countries, farbeyond the natural geographical distribution of this species. Over a 36-month period (January 2014–December2016), India exported 392 t of H. isora fruits, with a Free-On-Board (FOB) value of Indian rupiah (INR)18,337,000 (US$ 274,055). This represents an average annual export quantity of about 130,526 kg/year. Overthis three year period, most of these exports (85.5%) were to Indonesia (346.58 t), followed by Thailand(6.85%). Indian H. isora exports are also used in many other medical systems, including Kurdish and Zulu“traditional” medicines in Iraq and South Africa. Formation of an Indian diaspora in Bahrain, Mauritius, SouthAfrica, Tanzania and Trinidad and Tobago over the past 130 years is one of the drivers of H. isora fruit tradeoutside the natural geographic distribution of the species. In Indonesia, demand for H. isora fruits is supple-mented by an intra-island trade in Java and an inter-island trade from East Nusa Tenggara. West Timor, forexample, exports around 31–37 t of air-dried H. isora fruits per year to Java. At the farm gate, local harvesters inWest Timor get 4000 IDR (c. 0.3 US$) per kg, with businesses in Java paying 25,000 IDR (c.US$2) per kg for H.isora fruits. This is similar to the price paid for H. isora fruits imported from India to Java.Conclusions: India is the major exporter of whole dried H. isora fruits, including to countries where this specieshas never been in traditional use. In Indonesia, H. isora fruit extracts are used in the cosmetic industry as well asin jamu herbal medicines, including “Tolak Angin”, the country's most popular commercial “jamu” preparation.Indonesia also is the major importer of H. isora fruits from India. In eastern Indonesia, improved income to localvillagers from the H. isora fruit trade could come from improved H. isora fruit quality due to better dryingtechniques. This would also reduce health risks along the supply chain from to mycotoxins that have beenrecorded on poorly dried H. isora fruits. There also is an opportunity for cultivation of H. isora in small-holderteak plantations in Indonesia, with harvest of H. isora fruits as well as the medicinal bark.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2018.06.032Received 28 December 2017; Received in revised form 28 March 2018; Accepted 22 June 2018

Abbreviations: ACIAR, Australian Council for International Agricultural Research; DGFT, Directorate General of Foreign Trade; EBC, Economic Botany Collection atthe Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; ENT, East Nusa Tenggara; FOB, Free-on-Board; HS, Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System; IDR, Indonesianrupiah; INR, Indian rupiah; ITC, Indian Trade Classification; TRADESTAT, The Government of India's Export Import Data Bank; USD, United States dollars⁎ Corresponding author at: School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South St., Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.E-mail address: tonyc05@bigpond.net.au (A.B. Cunningham).

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Available online 23 June 20180378-8741/ Crown Copyright © 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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1. Introduction

The Indian Screw tree (Helicteres isora L., Malvaceae) is a shruboccurring in dry deciduous woodlands through tropical and sub-tropicalEast, South and South-east Asia as far south as monsoonal northernAustralia. In the 19th century, H. isora bark was used for making ropeand sacks, but was outcompeted by jute (from Corchorus species) as afibre source (Sebastine, 1954). H. isora wood was also preferentiallyused to make charcoal for gunpowder manufacture. In addition, thedistinctive spirally twisted fruits of H. isora are used in many localherbal traditions, including in Bangladesh (Islam et al., 2015), India(Ayyanar and Ignacimuthu, 2005; Gairola et al., 2013; Kumar et al.,2013), Iraq (Mati and de Boer, 2011), Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia(Brink and Escobin, 2003) and South Africa (Cunningham, 1988;Wojtasik, 2013).

Nearly 130 years ago, H. isora fruits were described in India as ‘…one of the commonest bazár drugs in most parts of the country.’ (Watt,1890). Today, H. isora is still commonly traded and is one of India's 178herbal medicine species whose trade exceeded 100 t/year (Ved andGoraya, 2008). In India, traditional use of fruits and bark of H. isora iswidespread (Ekka, 2011; Gairola et al., 2013; Jadeja et al., 2006;Murthy et al., 2010; Padal et al., 2013; Pandey and Shukla, 2008;Punjani and Kumar, 2002; Pushpakarani and Natarajan, 2014;Sonawane et al., 2012; Swain and Mohapatra, 2013; Wagh et al., 2010;Xavier et al., 2014). H. isora fruits are sold in local marketplaces acrossIndia as well as being exported (Soundrapandi and Narasimhan, 2006;Wojtasik, 2013). The pharmacology and chemistry of this species arealso well studied, particularly in India, including research on thebioactive compounds of the leaves showed antimicrobial activity(Kumar et al., 2013), as well as anti-inflammatory activity of the stembark (Badgujar et al., 2009), hypolipidaemic effects (Kumar andMurugesan, 2008) and anti-diabetic properties of the bark (Kumar andSingh, 2014) and fruits (Aleykutty and Akhila, 2012; Subramaniumet al., 2014).

H. isora has also been adopted into trade for “traditional” medicalsystems far beyond the natural range of this species. In the KurdishAutonomous Region, Iraq, for example, it is traded in the Qaysarimarket for use in herbal preparations to treat infant colic (Mati and deBoer, 2011). It has also been widely adopted into African traditionalmedicine in South Africa (Cunningham, 1988), where Wojtasik's (2013)study in traditional medicine markets in Johannesburg, South Africashowed that H. isora fruits were the most commonly stocked of allimported herbal medicines across all categories of herbal traders. H.isora fruit extracts also form 10% of the content of Tolak Angin ("expelwind"), a flagship "jamu" herbal product produced by PT Sido Munculthat has been the leading brand in Indonesia Top Brand Index in thehealth-care and pharma sector between 2014 and 2017 (Kabaressy andHandoyo, 2017; YouGovBrandIndex, 2017). Despite a long history oftrade, this is the first quantitative study have been done on the globaltrade in H. isora fruits exported from India.

H. isora was recorded in Timor over 300 years ago (Rumphius,1755), yet this is also the first study of H. isora value-chains withinIndonesia. One of the reasons for this is that like sandalwood (Santalumalbum L.) wood, Aquilaria (gaharu) resin impregnated wood, and birdnests (sarang walet) from the swiftlets (Collocalia fuciphagus Thunbergand C. maximus Hume), H. isora fruits are part of a "hidden economy"and are not traded in local marketplaces. Instead, the H. isora trade islargely through Buginese and Chinese-Indonesian trade networks fromprivate premises rather than local informal sector marketplaces(Fig. 3a). During a detailed survey of local marketplaces on four islandsin East Nusa Tenggara (ENT) in eastern Indonesia, for example, none ofthe 11,428 stalls of informal sector sellers we surveyed (Cunninghamet al., 2011) sold the distinctive fruits of H. isora.

This study had three aims. Firstly, to understand the H. isora fruittrade historically and in a global context. Secondly, to study the H. isoratrade from West Timor to Java, Indonesia in terms of actors along the

value chain, prices and the volumes being sold. Thirdly, to get a betterunderstanding of the potential of this species to improve householdincome in West Timor, in eastern Indonesia.

2. Methods

The identity of H. isora was confirmed through a voucher specimencollected in West Timor (A. B. Cunningham 7082 RBG). This matchesAllan Cunningham's voucher specimen from Kupang collected almost200 years ago (Allan Cunningham 326 RBG) that is still in the collectionat Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Orchard and Orchard, 2013). Fourmethods were used in this study.

Firstly, we reviewed literature for records of the historical use andtrade in H. isora products, supplementing the review with a searchthrough the Economic Botany Collection at the Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew. Secondly, global trade data for H. isora were accessed and ana-lyzed for a 36-month period (January 2014 to December 2016). Thiswas complex, as the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), re-sponsible for the Indian Trade Classification (ITC) HS Codes has notassigned a species-specific tariff code for H. isora plant parts. Thereforeits export trade could not be quantified using Government of India'sExport Import Data Bank (TRADESTAT). However, export trade databased on export shipment declarations from all major ports in India isgathered and analyzed by a private firm Zauba Technologies & DataServices Private Limited. Because different individual exporters de-scribe the plant using different vernacular names and some using in-correct general tariff codes, several search terms were used in order tocapture all declared shipments. Search terms included the Ayurvedicmedicine names ‘marodphali’, ‘murukku thippili’ and ‘murudshing’,Tamil and Siddha medicine names ‘valampuri’ and ‘valampurikkai’,Unani medicine name ‘marorphali’, Latin binomial ‘Helicteres isora’,pharmacopoeial name ‘Isorae Fructus’, Sanskrit name ‘avartani’, andvariously spelled trade names ‘mardasing’, ‘mardasingh’, and ‘marda-singi’. H. isora is also exported by different companies under five dif-ferent 8-digit tariff codes. Some of these are clearly incorrect codes forthe described shipments, including HS 07089000 (Other: Other legu-minous vegetables), HS 12119029 (Other: Leaves, powder, flowers andpods), HS 12119048 (Roots and Rhizomes: Sweet flag rhizomes), HS12119049 (Other: Roots and rhizomes) and HS 12119099 (Other: Otherplants and parts of plants used in perfumery or pharmacy, or for in-secticidal/ fungicidal purposes).

Thirdly, in order to understand the value chains involved, inter-views were conducted in Bahasa Indonesia by WI and WDK with con-solidators (“pernampung besar”) buying and drying H. isora fruits inWest Timor and shipping them from Kupang to Java. We also visitedthree businesses in Java that buy H. isora fruits from India andIndonesia, discussing the quality of the H. isora fruits these largecommercial enterprises use in relation to H. isora samples we obtainedfrom local villagers in West Timor.

Fourthly, we supplemented previous field visits to dry woodlandsand medicinal plant markets in South Asia with fieldwork in WestTimor, Indonesia in order to understand H. isora fruit production andvillagers perspectives on H. isora trade. As our study aimed to gain abetter understanding of how income to harvesters might be improved,we also did a rapid field assessment of fruit production biology in WestTimor, Indonesia.

As part of this process, as several traditional healers in Africa hadpointed out that H. isora screw-like fruits can be “threaded” to the leftor the right (Fig. 3d), we examined a random sample of 252 fruitscollected from a trader in Kupang and a smaller sample (68 fruits) froma natural population of H. isora near Bosen, West Timor.

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3. Results

3.1. Twists and turns: 140 years of change in the H. isora trade

There has been a major shift in the international trade in H. isoraproducts over the past 140 years, from bark for fibre in the 19th centuryto H. isora fruits in the 21st century. In the 19th and early 20th cen-turies, the commercial focus was the fibrous bark. In India andIndonesia H. isora bark fibre was used to make rope and sacks, but wasoutcompeted by jute sacking made from Corchorus bark (Brink andEscobin, 2003; Sebastine, 1954). There also was interest in Europe in H.isora bark as a source of fibre for paper making. In 1879, for example,the Indian Forest Department supplied a sample of H. isora bark toThomas Routledge, the manager of a paper mill in Sunderland, UK (EBC64951, RBG, Kew). H. isora wood was also preferentially used to makecharcoal for gunpowder manufacture and for traditional medicine, butin Travancore, then a princely state in southern India, the principal useuntil the 1920's was for kaivun fibre used to make bags for transportingpepper and rice (Sebastine, 1954). The early economic interest in H.isora fibre is evident from 19th century samples in the Economic BotanyCollection (EBC) at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, supplied fromIndia in 1878 (EBC 64960) and 1891 (EBC 64962) (Fig. 1).

3.2. Global trade in H. isora fruits

Over the 36-month period (January 2014 to December 2016) Indiaexported 391,578 kg of H. isora with a corresponding customs value(FOB) of INR 18,337,000. This is equivalent to US$ 274,055 total or anaverage of about US$ 0.70 per kg within the 36-month period ofJanuary 2014 to December 2016, based on a currency exchange rate of1 INR =0.0149455 USD. Indonesia, followed by Thailand, is the lar-gest importer of H. isora from India, accounting for 85.5% of India's H.isora fruit exports in terms of volume and nearly 86.3% in terms ofreported FOB value (Fig. 2, Table 1).

3.3. Value chains for H. isora and the trade context in West Timor,Indonesia

The value chains for H. isora start with wild harvest in seasonallydry woodlands and degraded shrublands in West Timor (Fig. 3). Mostharvests take place in May-June in areas such as Bena. When harvested,the wet mass of H. isora fruits in West Timor is 465 fruits/kg (extra-polated from a sample of 70.9 g for 33 fruits). After drying, by the timethat fruits are ready for packing into bags by large-scale traders con-solidating fruits to send to Java, it takes 1620 fruits (air-dry mass) for1 kg (based on a sample of 124 fruits at 76.5 g).

There are relatively few large-scale H. isora traders in West Timor.In total, there are three H. isora exporters in Kupang and just one (GajaMada) at the port of Atapupu in Atambua. Prior to 2011, there were

three exporters in Atambua as well, but two of these were wiped out bya price crash in their mainstay product, Tamarindus indica L. fruit pulp(asem). For all actors along the supply chain, income from H. isora issupplementary to income from other sources. Consolidators and ex-porters of H. isora are a good example of this. In Niki-Niki, candlenut(kemiri) seeds from Aleurites moluccanus (L.) Willd. and T. indica fruitpulp are the main products traded, while in the higher altitude towns ofKapan and Kefamananu, peanuts are the most profitable producttraded, followed by A. moluccanus seeds and T. indica fruit pulp.

In stark contrast to the lack of any H. isora being sold in any of theinformal sector markets surveyed in eastern Indonesia (West Timor,Flores, Sumba and Savu) (Cunningham et al., 2011), the traders weinterviewed in West Timor were exporting 31–37 t of sun-dried H. isorafruits per year to Surabaya and Semarang in Java. Based on discussionswith the consolidators and exporters we interviewed, some of who areno longer trading, we suggest that a total of 60–80 t of sun-dried H. isorafruits are exported to Java per year. At the current FOB price in Java,this would be worth 589 million IDR (US$44 200 per yr).

3.4. Harvest, fruit production and population biology

Surprisingly, given the extensive use of this species in India for

Fig. 1. Indian specimens of Helicteres isora inthe Economic Botany Collection, Royal BotanicGardens, Kew. A. H. isora fruits supplied toRBG, Kew by the Indian Forest Department,1878 (EBC 64954). B. Inner bark fibres (upper)and rope (lower, from Berar). Indian ForestDepartment, 1878 (EBC 64960). C. Wholebark, from Lohardaga district, Jharkhand.India Office, 1891 (EBC 64962).

Fig. 2. The quantities of H. isora fruits exported from India to other countriesover a 36-month period (January 2014 to December 2016), showing Indonesiaand Thailand as the main importing countries. Smaller import quantities havebeen rounded off to the nearest 100 kg from data in Table 1. Exports for the 3year period to New Zealand (50 kg), Trinidad and Tobago (250 kg), the RussianFederation (50 kg), the USA (2 kg) and Yemen (50 kg) are not shown here, butare included in Table 1. The role of an Indian diaspora from the 19th centuryonwards is likely to have driven expansion of the H. isora trade to Bahrain,Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania and Trinidad and Tobago.

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medicine (fruits, leaves) and rope (from the bark), few Timoresefarmers used H. isora. Most were familiar with the species, however,which they cleared when preparing maize fields. H. isora is a vigorousre-sprouter in West Timor (Fig. 3a), backing up Ding and Zang's (2005)quantitative assessment of re-sprouting ability of different species inHainan, China, which showed that H. isora was the most vigorous re-sprouter in their study site.

Fruit production is low. In West Timor, H. isora fruits are usuallyproduced between May-June. Based on our field observations, fruitproduction is considerably lower than it potentially could be. In India,Atluri et al. (2000) concluded that pollination failure was the reason forlow fruit production in this bird and bee pollinated species and thisseems likely in West Timor as well. Flowers and fruits are produced inthe axils between the leaves and the stem (Fig. 3e and f). Potentially,four fruits could be produced in each axil. In our examination of thenumber of fruits produced in 50 axils of a H. isora shrub, only 68 fruitswere fully matured from a potential total of 200 fruits (based on apotential total of four fruits per axil with complete pollination success).In 44 (88%) of these cases, only single fruits were produced. Of theremainder, 4 axils (8%) had two fruits/axil (Fig. 3e), 6 (12%) had 3fruits per axil and only one axil (2% of the sample) produced four fruits(Fig. 3f).

In this same sample of 68 fruits from a single parent shrub, 42(61.8%) were left-hand threaded and 26 (38.2%) were right-handthreaded (Fig. 3d). In contrast, a larger sample of 252 fruits collected ata trader's business in Kupang (so from a mixed sample of multipleshrubs), more 127 (50.4%) were right-hand threaded, 106 (42.1%)were left-hand threaded and a small proportion were straight (19(7.5%)).

4. Discussion

One of the advantages that the Indian Forest Department had tosupport the 19th century British interest in economic botany was accessto indigenous knowledge through discussions with Indian forest rangerswho were trained at the Dehra Dun Forest School (Cornish, 2013).Samples of H. isora fruits and bark supplied to the Royal Botanic Gar-dens, Kew are evidence of international interest in the potential eco-nomic value of this species (Fig. 1). Most contemporary trade is in H.isora fruits for medicinal purposes rather than H. isora bark. What hasdriven globalization of the H. isora fruit trade? Several factors account

for a global trade in H. isora fruits for "traditional" medicine.

4.1. Popularity and demand: more than just the "doctrine of signatures"

In the 19th century H. isora was a common component in the herbalmedicine trade (Watt, 1890), a trend that continues in India over acentury later (Ved and Goraya, 2008). There is no doubt that theunusual shape of the fruits has drawn attention cross-culturally. This isreflected in the meanings of vernacular names for H. isora in locallanguages within and outside the range of the species, which refer tothe rope-like twisted shape of the fruits. Examples are the Hindi name(maror phali, meaning "twisted pod"), Mandarin name (火索麻 (Huǒ suǒmá in pinyin, meaning "fire rope"), Bahasa Malaysia (chabai tali (wheretali means rope) and the isiZulu name, ijikantambo (meaning “pull therope”). A common outsider assumption was that use of folk medicinesfrom H. isora fruits to treat intestinal problems "had more to do with theirintestinal-like twisted appearance than with their medicinal properties"(Brink and Escobin, 2003) and that the Doctrine of the Signatures re-sulted in H. isora in "most prescriptions for the cure of griping in the bowelsand flatulence, especially in the cases of children. Its chief virtue seems to beits harmlessness". But as Brink and Escobin (2003) and studies referred toearlier in this paper indicate, research shows that H. isora fruits containactive ingredients.

4.2. Popularization outside the natural geographic range of H. isora by anIndian diaspora

Based on detailed discussions with members of the Natal HerbTraders Association, one of the primary drivers of globalization of theH. isora trade in the 19th century were the indentured labourers sent toformer British colonies to develop the sugar industry (L. Govender andB. Naidoo, pers. comm with Cunningham, 1988). This stimulated smallbusiness development by Indian settlers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa(Hiralal, 2008), Mauritius (Brennan et al., 1998) and Trinidad andTobago (Lai, 1993), including, we suggest, importation of H. isora andother South Asian herbal medicines. A similar historical dynamic,driven by an Indian diaspora, accounts for Trinidad and Tobago beingthe largest importing destination for Boswellia serrata Roxb. ex Colebr.In Bahrain, the high number of migrant workers from Bangladesh, Indiaand Pakistan may also account for the trade there (Fig. 2).

4.3. Old ingredient, new production processes and packaging

In the 21st century, H. isora is an ingredient of Ayurvedic productsmade in India as well as Indonesian jamu herbal preparations in wellorganized, modern factory facilities. An Indian example is AyuLax, anAyurvedic product produced by Welex Laboratories Pvt. Ltd(Maharashtra, India) that contains 40mg of H. isora fruits in addition toeight other herbal ingredients. These are imported into Indonesia by PT.K-Link Indonesia (Java, Indonesia). Within Indonesia, the rapid growthof the local traditional medicines (jamu) industry also reflects growingdemand for H. isora fruits from several well-known jamu companies,including Nyonya Meneer and PT. Sido Muncul.

For PT. Sido Muncul, the herbal medicine sector was the most im-portant contributor to company profits, with 13.3% year on yeargrowth (Phillip Capital, 2015). Jamu is produced in three main forms:powder (30%), liquid (67%) and tablets (3%) (Phillip Capital, 2014).And the most popular of PT. Sido Muncul's products is the Tolak Anginbrand, which is in liquid form in easy to consume sachets (Fig. 3e). In2012, PT. Sido Muncul had 75% share in the herbal cold remedy market(Phillip Capital, 2015). Based on the labeling on Tolak Angin sachet,each contains 5.67 g of herbal extract, 10% of which is from H. isora.With sales of Tolak Angin at around 80 million sachets/month, thisrepresents an monthly demand of 4536 kg of H. isora dry fruits/month(or 54.4 t/year) by this single large company. Based on the mass of freshvs. air-dry H. isora fruits in our study, there are 465 fruits/kg (fresh

Table 1The Republic of India's total export quantities and values sorted by importingcountry in order of predominance over the 36-month period (January 2014 toDecember 2016), based on export trade data from Zauba Technologies & DataServices Private Limited (https://www.zauba.com/).

Importing country Quantity (kg) Value (INR)

Republic of Indonesia 346,580 15,826,544Kingdom of Thailand 26,830 1,469,942Malaysia 6368 369,436Democratic Social Republic of Sri Lanka 2897 244,396Kingdom of Bahrain 2375 175,359People's Republic of Bangladesh 2000 31,992United Republic of Tanzania 1200 29,959Republic of Iraq 1000 47,099Republic of Singapore 511 17,976Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 500 32,238Republic of South Africa 405 24,022Islamic Republic of Pakistan 250 9283Republic of Mauritius 250 17,766Republic of Trinidad and Tobago 250 12,290Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 50 4318New Zealand 50 3576Republic of Yemen 50 3683Russian Federation 10 5972United States of America 2 123TOTAL 391,578 18,307,998

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mass) or 1620 fruits/kg (air-dry mass). So Indonesian imports fromIndia would represent around 220 million fruits/year. However, thecost of H. isora fruits imported from India is similar to the price paid byjamu companies for H. isora fruits imported from West Timor. This isdue to relatively long supply chains from a “farm-gate” price of4000–5000 IDR/kg (about US$0.30–0.38/kg) to harvesters in ruralWest Timor to 25,000–30,000 IDR/kg (about US$1.88–2.25/kg) whensold to jamu companies in Surabaya and Semarang (Fig. 4).

4.4. Growing demand through branding and celebrity support

Tolak Angin has been the leading brand in Indonesia Top BrandIndex in the health-care and pharma sector between 2014 and 2017(Kabaressy and Handoyo, 2017; YouGovBrandIndex, 2017). This is nota matter of chance in a very competitive market. It is the result ofsignificant investments in advertising and branding evident from theremarkable number of Indonesian studies have focused on what

Fig. 3. H. isora growth, fruit production and trade. A.Workers at drying and re-packing H. isora fruits(Kupang, West Timor). B. Interior of a typical cookinghut in Molo, West Timor where H. isora fruits arestored before sale, showing smoke and soot blackenedrafters contrasting with stored beans. C. The typicalmulti-stemmed growth form of H. isora in secondaryregrowth (Bosen, West Timor). D. Left and right-handthreaded fruits. E. Two (out of potentially four) matureH. isora fruits are produced in the axils between thepetiole and stem. F. Four mature H. isora fruits in asingle axil. E. Tolak Angin, the flagship herbal productproduced by PT. Sido Muncul in which H. isora fruitextract forms 10% of the total ingredients.

Fig. 4. Value chains for H. isora showing prices, activities and actors. The exchange rate at the time was 11,000 IDR per 1US$.

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influences customer choice and brand loyalty to Tolak Angin (Martopo,2015; Pribadi and Dharmmesta, 2011; Setyawati, 2017), competitiveadvantages of Tolak Angin (Fedora, 2013; Puspita and Nugrahani,2014) and advertising tactics (Santoso et al., 2014), that include the useof celebrity support (Audrine, 2012).

4.5. Abundant wild stocks combined with low impact harvest

To sustain commercial trade, the demand for H. isora fruits has to bematched by sufficient supplies and sustainable harvest. In easternIndonesia, where field observation in dry forests of Sumba and WestTimor shows that H. isora populations are scattered and at a relativelylow density. In contrast, H. isora can be a dominant species in somewoodlands in India. In a study in dry forest in southern India, for ex-ample, H. isora one of the four most abundant dry forest species in thestudy site (Sukumar et al., 1992). And unlike several other commer-cially harvested medicinal plants described in this special issue, whereharvest has a high impact (Cunningham et al., 2018), harvest of H. isorafruits has a low impact. Debarking by wildlife inside some conservationareas in India can result in high mortality of H. isora (Khan et al., 1994).Nevertheless, while other factors, such as climate and insect attack caninfluence fruit production (Muthukumar et al., 2017), destructive ef-fects of harvest are low and the opportunity for sustainable harvest ishigh.

4.6. Is there scope for H. isora cultivation?

Over 60 years ago, Sebastine (1954) concluded that “in view of theshortage of natural fibre, a systematic and large scale cultivation of Kaivunmay be of great value” and proceeded with H. isora cultivation trials.Since then, commercial interest in natural fibres first waned, with theavailability of synthetic fibres, such as nylon, but has now grown again.Driven by higher levels of public awareness about the environment,about waste disposal and about depletion of petrochemical resources,there is a new impetus for growth of new materials and products basedon natural fibres and biopolymers, some of which can compete withsynthetic products. In addition, there is growing interest in non-timberforest products that could add value to teak plantations in Indonesia todiversify and improve income to local people.

With projected sales of Tolak Angin reported to be 140–150 millionsachets per month (Standard Chartered Equity Research, 2014), H. isoraproduction in agroforestry systems or teak plantations in eastern In-donesia is worth careful consideration. The results of Sebastine's (1954)study are still useful today. Key results were that: (i) spacing of seed-lings (2–3 feet (0.6096–0.9144) vs. 20 feet (6.096m) apart) influencedH. isora growth form. With the close spacing, a single main stem grewup above smaller stems, but with wide spacing, H. isora formed multi-stemmed bushes; (ii) planted just before the monsoon, H. isora seedlingsgrew rapidly. At one-year old, the main stem was 1.27–1.9 cm(0.5–0.75 in. in Sebastine, 1954) in diameter and the trees were1.22–2.13m (4–7 feet) high. At two years old, H. isora trees stem dia-meter ranged from 1.9 to 2.54 cm (0.75–1 in.) and trees were2.13–3.66m (7–12 feet) high. Trees grew rapidly after manure wasadded to the soil and started to flower and fruit. At two years old, thetrees were cut for fibre, sprouting vigorously after cutting. Sebastine(1954) noted that the best quality fibre (for sacking) was from long,straight branches recommending annual cutting for fibre. If bark isneeded for extraction of active ingredients for anti-diabetic or anti-in-flammatory use, then a different approach may be needed and studieson how active ingredient content is influenced by tree (or bark) age andcoppice rotation history would be useful.

In India, with large wild H. isora stocks, cultivation may be lessviable than in Indonesia. But it is worth assessing how relevantSebastine's (1954) recommendation for H. isora production in India'steak (Tectona grandis) plantations would be to Indonesia? There cer-tainly is scope in Indonesia today, where teak is the most popular

timber species grown by farmers. Most teak production occurs in Java,but in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia's driest and poorest province, over19,300 households grow teak (Hardiyanto and Prayitno, 2008), in-cluding in West Timor, where H. isora currently is wild harvested. Butlarge-scale involvement of small-holder farmers in H. isora cultivationneeds to be considered very carefully before any implementation takesplace. With the large volume of H. isora fruits exported from India andthe competitive prices paid of these H. isora fruits, the scope for priceincreases at the farm-gate in West Timor is limited.

There may also be a market for H. isora bark in the future. There isrenewed interest for example, in H. isora bark fibre as a reinforcingcomponent in bio-composites (Joshy et al., 2006; Mathew et al., 2011).Expansion of bark processing for the jamu industry in Java may also bepossible through extraction of the anti-inflammatory (Badgujar et al.,2009) and anti-diabetic (Aleykutty and Akhila, 2012; Kumar and Singh,2014) properties of the bark for jamu in Indonesia. These uses of thebark, in conjunction with growing demand for herbal products from H.isora fruits, offer an opportunity to build on Sebastine's (1954) culti-vation trials, where both old and new commercial uses of H. isora couldadd to the economic viability of H. isora cultivation as a multi-useunderstorey shrub in teak plantations.

4.7. What are the priorities for future research?

Three steps are suggested prior to implementation of cultivationtrials. Firstly, better insights are needed into the micro-economics of H.isora production in teak plantations. These could be achieved throughmodeling “what if” questions to test whether a shift from extensive wildharvest of fruits to more intensive on-farm production of multipleproducts (fruits, bark, charcoal) from H. isora may be a viable option.

Secondly, given the similarity in prices paid for H. isora fruits im-ported from India and locally harvested fruits in Indonesia, the com-petitive edge in sales to Indonesian companies is likely to come fromimproving the quality of dried H. isora fruits and improved drying,storage and grading of fruits at the household level. In West Timor,dried H. isora fruits are often stored in the same location as food cropsare traditionally stored: traditional "cooking huts", where smoke keepsaway insects that could cause post-harvest loss. However, this can alsocause smoke and soot contamination of H. isora fruits that are then soldto the jamu industry. In addition, from field observation, both importedand locally harvested H. isora fruits are susceptible to fungal infection,due to packing before the fruits are sufficiently dry. In India, a study of15 medicinal plant species collected at random from herbal medicineshops showed that 17 fungal species were found on H. isora, includingthe species in the three most mycotoxic genera (Aspergillus, Penicilliumand Fusarium species). out of all 15 medicinal plant species sampled,stored H. isora were affected by the third highest number of fungi afterPlantago ovata (21 fungal species) and Carum copticum Benth (18 spe-cies). Fungi occurring on H. isora in Dhale's (2013) study are sources ofaflatoxins (Aspergillus), ochratoxins (Aspergillus and Penicillium) andtrichothecenes and fumonisins (Fusarium), all of which pose potentialhealth risks in the supply chain (Bryden, 2007). Research on potentialmycotoxins in the H. isora supply-chain is needed in Indonesia, as arepractical actions to improve drying and storage techniques. For ex-ample, solar driers at village level “bulking up” centres could double-upin drying other products (such as candlenut (Aleurites moluccanus) seedsin addition to drying H. isora fruits.

Thirdly, fruit and seed production could be improved, for examplethrough cultivation and possibly more effective pollination. In India,the recent study by Muthukumar et al. (2017) found that 35–41% offruits contained non-viable seeds. But this is a complex problem to solvein populated landscapes. Any plans to cultivate H. isora from seed needto recognize the poor dormancy of H. isora seeds, which need to beplanted within a maximum of 6 months. In India, Muthukumar et al.(2017) found that 88.2% of seeds were viable up to 6 months, but after2 years in storage, seed viability had dropped to 24.2%, with best

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germination achieved after acid treatment of the seeds. Without takingaction on at least some of these steps, however, H. isora fruit productionis likely to remain a small income supplement to Timorese households.

5. Conclusions

H. isora is widespread and locally abundant in dry forests andwoodlands in India, which is the major exporter of whole dried H. isorafruits. Major importers are Indonesia and Thailand, where H. isora oc-curs naturally. In addition, due to the influence of an Indian diasporaover more than 150 years, smaller quantities of H. isora are also ex-ported to countries where this species has never been in traditional use(Bahrain, Iraq, Mauritius, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago and SouthAfrica). Consequently, in addition to use in medicinal systems in India(Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha and folk medical systems), China(Traditional Chinese Medicine) and Indonesia (jamu), H. isora fruitshave been adopted into other “traditional” medical systems, from Iraq(Kurdish herbal medicines) and South Africa (Zulu traditional medi-cine). In Indonesia, H. isora fruit extracts are used in the cosmetic in-dustry and for “Tolak Angin”, the country's most popular commercial“jamu” preparation. Indonesia is the major importer of H. isora fruitsfrom India. In eastern Indonesia, where there are natural populations ofH. isora, improved income to local villagers from the H. isora fruit tradeis more likely to come from increased H. isora fruit quality after betterdrying and storage methods. This would also reduce potential healthrisks from smoke contaminated fruits stored above cooking fires andfrom mycotoxins on poorly dried H. isora fruits. There also is an op-portunity for cultivation of H. isora in small-holder teak plantations inIndonesia, with multiple-use of both H. isora fruits and of the medicinal,fibrous bark.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge financial support for this study from theAustralian Council for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)under the project “Development of Timber and Non-Timber ForestProducts’ production and Marketing Strategies for Improvement ofSmallholders’ Livelihoods in Indonesia” (FST 2012/039). We wouldalso like to thank the local farmers and H. isora traders in West Timor aswell as staff at PT. Sido Muncul, Nyonya Meneer and PT. Maarta Tilaarfor time spent on discussions and Willy Kadati for his help and advice.Three anonymous reviewers are thanked for suggesting improvementsto this paper.

Authors contributions

A.B. (Tony) Cunningham and William Ingram carried out thefieldwork for this study in West Timor, Indonesia and Josef Brinckmanncollected and analysed the international trade data. The photographsfor Fig. 3 were taken by Tony Cunningham, who also prepared the mapsand value-chain figure. Mark Nesbitt contributed information on the19th century trade, including specimens of H. isora products in theEconomic Botany Collection at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Fig. 4).

Conflict of interest

One of the co-authors (Josef A. Brinckmann) was contracted by thesenior author (A.B. Cunningham) to access and analyze trade data on H.isora. He is an employee of Traditional Medicinals, Inc., but has novested interest in the study. The authors declare that there are noconflicts of interest.

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