Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Swiftlet Farming (SF)

Edible bird nest is expensive, something like RM5000 to RM7000 per kg. Demand from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore and North America is overwhelming. Therefore SF must be lucrative. Our government know this; they are now promoting the industry and encouraging people to go into SF. What intrigues me is why the big boys are not coming in yet. As far as I know none of the listed companies in Bursa is involved in SF.

Planation companies have plenty of land. They can easily go into SF and reap handsome profits in one to two years time. Why are they not doing it? It seems to me, these swiftlets known as Aerodramus Fuciphagus (AF), prefer to live in the town. They like to keep close to people or perhaps they are attracted by the lights.

Indonesia is the world number one in the production of edible bird nests. Malaysia is now ranked second, followed probably by Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Bird houses (BH) have mushroomed in the smaller towns in many parts of Malaysia over the last few years. Abandoned shop houses that have no revenues are the ones first used. Many have succeeded and many have failed.

Are BHs in agricultural land successful? At Taman Makmur, Bentong, many shop houses have been converted to BHs. They appear to be doing well. There is a stand-alone BH a small distance away from these shophouse BHs built on farm land. The owner said that the BH had not birds. This again raises the question: Are BH viable in plantation land?

Along the road from Bentong to Raub, there are at least ten BHs built on farm land. These BHs are all bungalows built specially for swift let farming. Before you venture into this type of business, you should do a due diligence, otherwise your money may not go the way of the swiftlets but those of the dodo birds, gone forever.

If you are convinced that BHs are viable in farm land and wish to go into this lucrative business, please contact me (Tel.016-9321849) as I have a small piece of land measuring 2 3/4 acres that is between two swiftlet farms.

This land is most ideal for the set up a swiftlet farm. Details can be worked out. The land is not for sale; it is only available on a joint venture basis.