Mr. Dhanushka Hettiarachchi, Research Scientist of the Wescorp Sandalwood Pty Ltd speaks...

Mr. Dhanushka Hettiarachchi, Research Scientist of the Wescorp Sandalwood Pty Ltd, Western Australia made a speech for the Sadaharitha Staff on the 05th of November at the Central Bank Education Centre. Mr. Hettiarachchi has been working with Wescorp for the last four years and he is responsible for determining the quality of sandalwood oil. He closely works as a research collaborator with Dr. Upul Subasinghe, Consultant of Sadaharitha Plantations Ltd. Together they were able to identify the best oil yielding sandalwood trees and areas which produce high quality santalol in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Hettiarachchi explained that the demand of sandalwood will not decline in the future and in fact it will be on the rise. Although Wescorp is the largest sandalwood supplier to the world with 60% share, still the management tries to provide the minimum quantity of sandalwood to the buyers while keeping them happy, due to the low availability of the resource.

Mr. Hettiarachchi further added that he is very happy to work with Sadaharitha and Sri Lankan Foresters for the development of Sandalwood Industry. Due to the understanding of the previous research work conducted by Dr. Upul Subasinghe and Mr. Hettiarachchi on sandalwood, the National Research Council of Sri Lanka has provided Rs. 1.1 M for further research. Sadaharitha has also decided to provide funds for the same research for travelling and equipment.