Bird's nest boom has Malaysian producers drooling
2011/10/13
SITIAWAN: Thousands of swiftlets erupt from their roosts, swirling into a brightening dawn in a riotous ritual that announces the start of each day in this coastal town in northern Malaysia.But the tiny birds emerge not from natural cave roosts, but from a purpose-built swiftlet “farm” resembling an industrial building that affords easy access to the valuable nests used in bird’s nest soup.
Such farms are at the centre of a Malaysian effort to capitalise on the growing world popularity of the soup, a delicacy believed in Chinese society to be an aphrodisiac and provide a range of health benefits.
Strong demand for the so-called “Caviar of the East” from newly wealthy consumers in China and India and in the Middle East is fuelling unprecedented new growth in a world market estimated by Malaysia’s government at more than $6 billion.
“The Middle East is our new market. They are feeding bird’s nest soup to race horses to make them run faster,” said Loke Yeu Loong, managing director of the swiflet farm in the rural coastal town of Sitiawan.
“At the moment, demand outstrips supply.” The cup-shaped collections of twigs are held together by dried swiftlet saliva, which is made into a gelatinous soup credited in China with everything from alleviating asthma to arresting the ageing process.
In 2009, world production reached 3,750 tonnes, 75 percent of which came from Indonesia.
Thailand and Malaysia, where the birds also are found in huge numbers, produced most of the rest.
But safety and environmental concerns have forced a move away from the caves and disused buildings where swiftlets roost, and Malaysian harvesters are today building thousands of surrogate homes for the birds.
Loke opened his first dedicated swiftlet farm in 2009 — several block-long rows of neatly designed three-storey buildings with sealed doors and windows and hollow interiors — outside Sitiawan in Perak state.
Enticed by swiftlet mating songs played from loudspeakers, the birds enter via small openings and build their nests.
From just a few hundred individual bird houses in the late 1990s, there are now about 50,000 in Malaysia, according to the government.
Malaysia produced about 275 tonnes of bird’s nest in 2010, worth some 1.5 billion ringgit ($470 million), and the government projects output growing to 500 tonnes by 2020.
Demand has pushed the average price of a kilogramme of Malaysia bird’s nest to 4,000 ringgit today, four times what it was 20 years ago.
“Obviously at present we can’t meet the huge growing consumer demand for edible bird’s nest,” Loke said.
His firm, Swiftlet Eco Park, is now developing or planning 14 other sites nationwide and aims to become Malaysia’s top producer.
The Malaysian industry hatched in the 1980s but gained momentum after the 1997 Asian financial crisis left many property developments abandoned or unfinished.
Resourceful entrepreneurs capitalised on this — and the lack of industry regulation — to use many such sites as swiftlet farms.
But they ran into opposition amid complaints that the recorded bird song disturbed human residents and that droppings posed a potential health threat in the avian flu era. Calls for regulation have grown louder.
As a result, government officials say authorities have stopped approving new farms in urban areas and that legislation expected soon would ban them except in rural zones. - AFP
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Such farms are at the centre of a Malaysian effort to capitalise on the growing world popularity of the soup, a delicacy believed in Chinese society to be an aphrodisiac and provide a range of health benefits.
Strong demand for the so-called “Caviar of the East” from newly wealthy consumers in China and India and in the Middle East is fuelling unprecedented new growth in a world market estimated by Malaysia’s government at more than $6 billion.
“The Middle East is our new market. They are feeding bird’s nest soup to race horses to make them run faster,” said Loke Yeu Loong, managing director of the swiflet farm in the rural coastal town of Sitiawan.
“At the moment, demand outstrips supply.” The cup-shaped collections of twigs are held together by dried swiftlet saliva, which is made into a gelatinous soup credited in China with everything from alleviating asthma to arresting the ageing process.
In 2009, world production reached 3,750 tonnes, 75 percent of which came from Indonesia.
Thailand and Malaysia, where the birds also are found in huge numbers, produced most of the rest.
But safety and environmental concerns have forced a move away from the caves and disused buildings where swiftlets roost, and Malaysian harvesters are today building thousands of surrogate homes for the birds.
Loke opened his first dedicated swiftlet farm in 2009 — several block-long rows of neatly designed three-storey buildings with sealed doors and windows and hollow interiors — outside Sitiawan in Perak state.
Enticed by swiftlet mating songs played from loudspeakers, the birds enter via small openings and build their nests.
From just a few hundred individual bird houses in the late 1990s, there are now about 50,000 in Malaysia, according to the government.
Malaysia produced about 275 tonnes of bird’s nest in 2010, worth some 1.5 billion ringgit ($470 million), and the government projects output growing to 500 tonnes by 2020.
Demand has pushed the average price of a kilogramme of Malaysia bird’s nest to 4,000 ringgit today, four times what it was 20 years ago.
“Obviously at present we can’t meet the huge growing consumer demand for edible bird’s nest,” Loke said.
His firm, Swiftlet Eco Park, is now developing or planning 14 other sites nationwide and aims to become Malaysia’s top producer.
The Malaysian industry hatched in the 1980s but gained momentum after the 1997 Asian financial crisis left many property developments abandoned or unfinished.
Resourceful entrepreneurs capitalised on this — and the lack of industry regulation — to use many such sites as swiftlet farms.
But they ran into opposition amid complaints that the recorded bird song disturbed human residents and that droppings posed a potential health threat in the avian flu era. Calls for regulation have grown louder.
As a result, government officials say authorities have stopped approving new farms in urban areas and that legislation expected soon would ban them except in rural zones. - AFP
Read more: Bird's nest boom has Malaysian producers drooling http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Bird_snestboomhasMalaysianproducersdrooling/Article/#.TpaHhnT045Q.facebook#ixzz1afMIeZGY
Diberitahu oleh Pak Ibnu of walet.org
Yang ini translate nya
"Beribu-ribu burung layang-layang meletus dari RBW mereka, berpusar ke pagi yang cerah di dalam upacara berfoya-foya yang mengumumkan permulaan setiap hari di bandar tepi pantai ini di Malaysia.Tetapi burung kecil ini tidak muncul dari gua semula jadi, tetapi dari rumah burung layang-layang yang dibina khas menyerupai bangunan industri yang mampu dan mudah dimasuki untuk mengambil sarang yang berharga yang digunakan dalam sup sarang burung.
Ladang itu adalah salah satu usaha Kerajaan Malaysia untuk mengambil kesempatan daripada populariti sup yang semakin meningkat didunia , iaitu makanan istimewa yang dipercayai dalam masyarakat Cina untuk kegunnan aprodisiak dan menyediakan pelbagai manfaat kesihatan.
Yang ini translate nya
"Beribu-ribu burung layang-layang meletus dari RBW mereka, berpusar ke pagi yang cerah di dalam upacara berfoya-foya yang mengumumkan permulaan setiap hari di bandar tepi pantai ini di Malaysia.Tetapi burung kecil ini tidak muncul dari gua semula jadi, tetapi dari rumah burung layang-layang yang dibina khas menyerupai bangunan industri yang mampu dan mudah dimasuki untuk mengambil sarang yang berharga yang digunakan dalam sup sarang burung.
Ladang itu adalah salah satu usaha Kerajaan Malaysia untuk mengambil kesempatan daripada populariti sup yang semakin meningkat didunia , iaitu makanan istimewa yang dipercayai dalam masyarakat Cina untuk kegunnan aprodisiak dan menyediakan pelbagai manfaat kesihatan.
Permintaan yang kukuh untuk "Cavair Timur" yang kononnya daripada pengguna yang baru kaya di China dan India dan di Timur Tengah, ianya tidak pernah berlaku sebelum ini dengan pertumbuhan baru di pasaran dunia yang dianggarkan oleh kerajaan Malaysia di lebih daripada $ 6 bilion."Timur Tengah merupakan pasaran baru kami. Mereka memberi makan sup sarang burung untuk kuda lumba menjadikan mereka berjalan lebih cepat, "kata Loke Yeu Loong, pengarah urusan ladang burung walit di bandar luar bandar pantai Sitiawan.
"Pada masa ini, permintaan melebihi bekalan." Koleksi berbentuk cawan ranting yang diadakan bersama-sama dengan air liur burung layang-layang yang kering, yang dibuat ke dalam sup agar-agar yang dikreditkan di China dengan segala-galanya daripada mengurangkan asma untuk menghentikan proses penuaan.
Pada tahun 2009, pengeluaran dunia sampai 3750 tan metrik, 75 peratus yang datang dari Indonesia.
Thailand dan Malaysia, di mana burung-burung juga terdapat dalam jumlah yang besar, menghasilkan sebahagian besar yang lain.
Tetapi kebimbangan keselamatan dan alam sekitar telah memaksa ia berpindah dari gua dan pergi kebangunan burung layang-layang , dan penuai Malaysia hari ini membina beribu-ribu rumah tumpang untuk burung.
Loke membuka ladang burung layang-layang pertama yang didedikasikan pada tahun 2009 - beberapa baris panjang blok bangunan tiga tingkat yang direka kemas dengan pintu dimeteraikan dan tingkap dan hiasan dalaman yang berlubang - luar Sitiawan dalam negeri Perak.
Tertarik dengan lagu-lagu mengawan burung yang dimainkan dari pembesar suara, burung masuk melalui tingkap kecil dan membina sarang mereka.
Dari rumah burung hanya beberapa ratus individu dalam akhir 1990-an, terdapat kira-kira 50,000 di Malaysia, menurut kepada kerajaan.
Malaysia menghasilkan kira-kira 275 tan sarang burung pada tahun 2010, bernilai kira-kira 1.5 bilion ringgit ($ 470 juta), dan output projek kerajaan yang semakin meningkat kepada 500 tan metrik menjelang 2020.
Permintaan telah ditolak purata harga sekilogram sarang kepada 4,000 ringgit burung Malaysia hari ini, empat kali apa yang ia adalah 20 tahun yang lalu.
"Jelas sekali pada masa ini, kita tidak dapat memenuhi permintaan pengguna yang besar yang semakin meningkat untuk sarang burung yang boleh dimakan," kata Loke.
Firmanya, Walit Eco Park, sekarang ini sedang dibangunkan atau perancangan 14 laman web yang lain di seluruh negara dan bertujuan untuk menjadi pengeluar utama Malaysia.
Industri Malaysia bermula pada tahun 1980-an tetapi mendapat momentum selepas krisis kewangan Asia 1997 meninggalkan banyak pembangunan hartanah terbengkalai atau yang belum selesai.
Usahawan pintar yang dipermodalkan ini dan kekurangan peraturan industri - untuk menggunakan banyak laman-laman tersebut sebagai rumah burung.
Tetapi mereka menghadap pembangkang yang mengadu bahawa lagu burung yang direkodkan mengganggu penduduk dan bahawa najis merupakan satu ancaman kesihatan yang berpotensi dalam era selesema burung. Panggilan untuk peraturan yang telah berkembang kuat.
Akibatnya, pegawai-pegawai kerajaan berkata, pihak berkuasa telah berhenti meluluskan ladang baru di kawasan bandar dan bahawa undang-undang yang dijangka tidak lama lagi akan mengharamkan mereka kecuali di zon luar bandar. - AFP
