Swiftlet Birdnest Farming

OVERVIEW OF SWIFTLET NEST INDUSTRY IN MALAYSIA


1. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE MALAYSIA SWIFTLET NEST INDUSTRY

a) To encourage, assist, facilitate and ensure the smooth development and the flourish of the swiftlet nest industry by permitting the owners to convert the abandoned and unproductive buildings or floor spaces or new buildings into the productive swiftlet houses in the country under proper control and supervision of the authorized agencies with due consideration as not to cause the unnecessary nuisances, inconveniences and negative impacts to the neighborhood and the environment.

b) To tap the potential and to promote the sustainable use of new natural resource discovered, i.e the edible swiftlet nests, (like the existing rubber and palm oil) for the benefit of the country’s economy.


c) To help to increase production / supply to meet the ever increasing demand of consumption, thus generating incomes and improving likelihood of the locals.


d) To encourage and facilitate the exportation of the swiftlet nests either in raw or in the finished product form to generate foreign exchange and revenue for the country.


e) To generate and create more job opportunities by encouraging and facilitating the swiftlet nest industry to move further into down stream cottage industry. Thus, to help alleviate the pressure of increased unemployment rate faced by the country due to the withdrawal of the foreign investments resulted by the economy slow down.


f) To increase awareness and educate the public in general with awareness program on the importance of ecological balance of this protected species to the environment, thus to help to increase the number of the reduced swiftlets in the long term to improve ecological balance.

g) To promote our country be a landmark of significant producer and international trading centre for bird nests globally.

2. THE ANATOMY OF THE MALAYSIA BIRD NEST INDUSTRY

a) Swiftlet nest or bird nest commonly known for its delicacies, high nutrition and medicinal value by many Asian countries like China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Asia Pacific countries has been under explored by us in Malaysia. The potential of it provide vast commercial viability and environment balance with the complementary of Malaysia highly suitable climate and environment. As a result the need for appropriate studies and research have been called for by interests investors and owners of private dwelling to better use the abandoned properties which have become burden and eyesore due to current prolong economic turmoil.


b) There are many types of swiftlets found in Peninsula Malaysia that known to occur naturally along the coastal regions (e.g in off-shore islands, cliffs, caves). Among them, only one type of swiftlet i.e the white-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus Fuciphagus) that the bird nest house farming industry is interested in to lure into the birdhouse. This type of white-nest swiftlet produces the good quality edible nests that is very in demand and well sought after, in particular, the Chinese throughout the world for its traditional high nutritional and medicinal values.


c) The establishment and mushrooming of the pre-war shop-houses created additional or alternative cave-like roosting and nesting sites.


d) Natural colonization of these buildings by these swiftlets occurs spontaneously. It has been recorded that the white-nest swiftlets occupied abandoned structures or buildings before World War II, i.e at least more than half a century ago. However, at that time, edible bird nest was not a valuable commodity like the status it enjoyed today.

The building owners neither chases them away or renovated the buildings to accommodate them to be so called “swiftlet farming” as we know of today. In fact, till today there are still many such cases in many towns in Malaysia whereby, the owner’s families living peacefully and harmoniously under the same roof. No renovation at all is being done by the owners to accommodate the swiftlets. When the owners feel like it, he wood just plucks a couple of abandoned nests for his family’s consumption. The swiftlets just couldn’t bother at all.


e) Nobody knows why the swiftlets move or prefer to migrate from their natural caves to live with human beings in towns. Probably the swiftlets found it safer in towns than in caves where they have the natural enemies and predators to prey on them. Similar to the House Swift (Apus Affinis) that are commonly found nesting under the ceilings of old buildings. The nest is made of mud and of no economic value and usually aggregate in large colonies and leaving below large quantity of droppings. Yet, nobody bothers or complaint about these House Swifts. But why is there a bad reputation branded on the swiftlet house farming now?


f) Therefore, the whole swiftlets house industry is not new. It has at least more than half a century of history in Malaysia. It is only in the recent years that the people started to realize the lucrative economic value of the nests and decided to tap its potential that resulted in the rampant and unscrupulous renovations that created a bad name for the otherwise secretive and well managed industry.


g) What the swiftlet house owners do is to create an alternative roosting and nesting place for the swiftlets by converting an unused and unproductive house with minimum renovation and cost. Many people are familiar with the Apiculture or the rearing. Instead of hive, the farmers build or renovate buildings to let the swiftlet stay (like the bees in a box hive) in the renovated buildings. The swiftlets are free to fly in and out of the buildings / house to look for their own food,insects.
Just like bees that are free to roam to find and collect pollens and nectar. They only come back to sleep and make nests. No feeding cost is required.


h) Generally, a professionally constructed swiftlet houses very difficult to differentiate from any ordinary shophouses. All the conspicuous ones which defy most council’s rulings and by-laws (e.g. completely sealed or brick window panels with many pot holes all over) are badly designed or constructed by people with little knowledge of this industry.


i) Not all the swiftlet houses are the same. Those common visible ones are mostly ill-designed with sub-standard methodology. The professionally designed ones are extremely difficult to detect, and the recorded swift voice is so soft that you hardly hear it because the speakers are all directed sky. Except that you could find a large flock of swiftlets hovering above the building.


j) In most cases the construction or usage of ponds is obsolete. Innovative and modern equipments can substitute the pods yet able to maintain the relatively high humidity needed in a cleaner environment.


k) Practice of good hygiene inside a swiftlet house creates a healthy environment that could attract more swiftlets and thus sustains a more than normal rapid population growth inside the swiftlet house. Dirty and filthy environment actually disliked by the swiftlet. (latest finding). The practice of placing of bird droppings inside a new swiftlet house to create the smell to attract new swiftlets is actually a lay-man misconception and is obsolete. The professionals do not practice it. In fact, for a professionally and well managed swiftlet house, the owner collects the guano, scraps and cleans very regularly to the disinfection and pesticides are used to maintain a very hygienic environment for the swiftlets as far as he could in order to attract more swiftlets to help increase his revenue. The guano collected is well sought after by the organic planters and is sold at almost RM4 per kilo another good source of side income.

l) Most of the information written above is actually the trade secrets and teckniques practiced of the experienced and successful swiftlet house owners. Under normal circumstances, no owner would want to divulge to others unless compelled to for a specific purpose.


3. HISTORY OF THE SWIFTLET NEST INDUSTRY IN MALAYSIA AND THE REASONS FOR ITS RECENT IMPETUOUS BOOM.


a) Edible bird nest industry has been in existence for the past 100 years in the region with Indonesia being the leading producing country accounting for 60% to 70% of world total output worth billions in USD. The other countries are the Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma and Malaysia. Malaysia’s production accounts for mere 3% to 5% today, mainly from the caves in East Malaysia.


b) In Indonesia alone exists no less than 50,000 bird-houses. The same birdhouse industry has also been in existence in the Peninsular Malaysia for more than 50 years except that the number of birdhouses accounted for less than 100 scattered all over Malaysia in 1990’s. Most of the birdhouses are found in abandoned pre-war or colonial buildings. These are almost natural occurrences. Very little renovation or technique was used to enhance the population growth of the swiftlet. The owners simply considered themselves to be the lucky ones that the birds chose their buildings to roost. No body had the technology or know-how to lure the swiftlets into the house as what we know today. So those lucky few had been quietly enjoying the god-sent wealth in a very low profile manner with others to envy at.

c) Not until after the recent political instability and the social chaos and the racial suppression in 1998 that many Indonesian entrepreneurs started to shift their funds into West Malaysia. Due to the 1997 economic crisis that caused the slump in the local property market to the extent that the value of the properties had dwindled to almost half that the local property market had become so cheap and attractive. These Indonesian started to joint venture with the locals and with the technologies and know-how brought by them invested in the properties and converted many vacant and unproductive buildings into the modern birdhouses that we know of today.


d) Due to the facts that these investors were the pioneers in this industry as their investments’ success rate was rather high. This has alerted the local esp. the empty and unproductive building owners that this could be a way out for them in this bad economy. They rushed into Indonesia to learn up the trade and the technology. When they returned, they started to turn their unproductive properties into the swiftlet houses.


e) Therefore, in only a few years, estimated between 4,000 to 5,000 units of modern birdhouses with combined value of more than RM1.5 billion have sprouted spontaneously across the whole Peninsular Malaysia. In fact, unwittingly, this new industry had also indirectly helped our Malaysia’s dwindling economy in particularly the slumming property market to a certain extend.


f) The value of properties at its height prior to the 1997 economic crisis had slashed to even below half today. Examples are, for a 4-storey shop-houses of RM 600,000 to RM 350,000 , a 3 storey shop-house of RM400,000 to RM170,000 and a 2-storey shop-house of RM 250,000 to RM140,000 , from the monthly rental of an average of RM2,000 down to RM900. And sometime, yet no taker. Many property owners due to the loss in rental revenue and with the heavy loan commitment and high maintenance cost, being pressured to the extent of suffering from nervous breakdown and sometime cry without tears. Instead of owning assets, these had become burdens and nightmares.
g) After the de-control of the rent control Act for the protection of the pre-war buildings that came into effect on 01.01.2000, tens of thousands of these buildings being vacated and returned to the landlords, further aggravated the situation for the badly stricken property market. Rows and rows of modern shop-houses completed with Certificate of Fitness particularly in the new townships and in the housing estates across the country are left unoccupied and idled with windows, doors and internal amenities broken and ransacked. The whole scenario looks ghostly. Many of these properties are under receivership with the owners bankrupted. In Penang Island alone, more than three thousands pre-war buildings abandoned and some turned ramshackle and became heaven for drug addicts and illegal activities.


h) With the recent surge in the swiftlet nest industry, many owners are saved in a way, at least temporarily with a hope to get out of the present awkward predicament in the near future with some luck.


i) This new industry has directly or indirectly benefited the other peripheral industries, trades and services too, such as the financial institutions, legal firms, building industry, hardware, electrical, electronic, local airlines, hotel, tourism etc.


j) Most importantly, increased in the country’s foreign exchange revenue and thus helped to alleviate the pressure on the present dwindling economy.


k) Nevertheless, despite all these positive aspects and the benefits, there is bound to have a certain minor negative aspects resulted from this rather impetuous booming industry such as the nuisances, health hazards and the inconsiderate illegal construction created by the unscrupulous owners needed to be tackled and addressed.


l) Therefore, an official guideline for the industry is rather imminent and urgent to be formulated by the relevant authorities to check and monitor the situation. These guidelines should not be too stringent and demanding for fear of instead of assisting and facilitating the industry to grow and develop to tap the potential for the benefit of the country, dwarfing and crippling it. The guidelines should be very straight forward and simplified. And the people drafting it should have an open, positive, supportive and sincere mind and also without bias. Most importantly, they must be professional enough to have a real in depth study and knowledge and full understanding about the trade from all angles to make independent judgment and positive proposals to benefit the whole industry and the country at large.


4. THE DEFINITION OF A “SUCCESSFUL SWIFTLET HOUSE” IN THE SWIFTLET NEST INDUSTRY.


a) Generally, to the professional and experienced a swiftlet house is deemed successful in three stages. Successful in the first pair of birds to live inside the house, successful in having enough of birds to yield the minimum quantity of nest to justify the monthly maintenance cost, and the successful in the final stage of having the extra after minus the
maintenance cost, i.e. the profit. Only upon achieving of success in the final stage, the only could we say that particular swiftlet house is successful and worth the investment and effort.


b) The first stage of success is determined when the house has managed to attract the first pair of swiftlets to roost and live permanently inside the house. The duration from the day it starts to broadcast the recorded swiftlet voice till the first pair to live in varies from one month to a year or longer. (some birdhouses may never arrive to this stage at all) It all depends on the house’s internal conditions, the technique used, the location, the environment and most importantly whether there is enough of swiftlet population in the area.


c) The second stage of success is determined whether the house has managed to attract enough of swiftlets to produce the minimum quantity of nests to yield the revenue enough to offset the monthly maintenance cost. Averagely it takes about 600 birds per floor to do that. After having the extra, then only we consider the house is entering the final stage. If we take this to be considered justified for an investment of an average size of a single floored birdhouse, then we must look into the duration period that it takes from the first stage to the second stage. From our experience the duration taken varies from 3 to 5 years or even longer. Hence, it takes an average of 4 to 6 years for a birdhouse to “mature” to justify the investment under normal favorable conditions and circumstances.


5. THE 5 BASIC KEY FACTORS OR ELEMENTS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE “SUCCESS” OF A MODREN SWIFTLET HOUSE


a) Basically, there are 5 main factors which are indispensable or imperative in the designing and constructing of a potentially successful swiftlet house. Lacking either of the 5 factors would definitely render the intended birdhouse a failure.

i) Darkness
ii) Low temperature -- 26 C to 29 C
iii) High Humidity -- 80 % to 90 %
iv) Undisturbed and totally protected environment
v) Recorded swiftlet flock voice


b) In order to achieve an almost complete darkness inside an intended birdhouse, most of the openings including windows and doors must be closed or covered to shield away any intruding light source.


c) To achieve and maintain a constant temperature of 26 c to 29 c round the clock, insulating materials or agents would have to be used. Ventilation of air flow would be monitored so as not to let the temperature to fluctuate too much.


d) To achieve and maintain 80 % to 90 % high humidity inside a birdhouse, water would have to be used. For the obsolete methodology before the introduction of the electrical humidifier, cemented ponds, plastic pails or water containers were used to contain water to create the high humidity inside the birdhouse. Actually, these ponds and containers are rather costly to build and troublesome in maintenance. Only until very recently that with the introduction of the electrical humidifiers, the tedious and troublesome problem has been solved.

e) Frequent disturbances and visits to the inside of a successful birdhouse would scare away the birds. Therefore, the owners would normally refrain from entering the birdhouse unnecessary. To avoid the uninvited visits of the intruders such as thieves and burglars, the house would be very strongly enhanced in the security system to the extent that most birdhouses are installed with strong bars and the high quality of alarm system.


f) After having achieved the above 4 factors, yet no swiftlet would know the existence of the new birdhouse unless the swiftlet are being notified and invited by the broadcast of the recorded swiftlet voice through the use of the sound system. Nevertheless, there is a tendency that a small percentage of the inexperienced newcomers through the misled of some unqualified and unscrupulous “consultants” irresponsibly blasting the sound to maximum without due consideration for others thus, resulted in creating nuisances such as noise pollution disturbing the peace of the environment and arouse complaints. As for the professional and the experienced owners, they would avoid the neighbors by directing the speakers skyward with tolerable volume to the extent that even the neighbors may not be aware of the sound. A professional and experienced would normally switch on the voice between 8am to 12 noon and again 4pm to 8pm only.


g) Therefore, only the professionally designed new birdhouses that are equipped with the above 5 basic factors or elements would stand a chance to succeed eventually if time is given and of course, with some luck. The duration of waiting from zero to the final stage of success varies from 4 to 6 years.


6. TYPE OF BUILDINGS COMMONLY USED FOR SWIFTLET NEST FARMING

a) All pre-war shop-houses and townhouses
b) All modern shop-houses
c) All modern shop-offices
d) Light industry factories
e) Abandoned or unused factories
f) Multi-Storey flatted factories
g) Farm houses
h) Buildings in the plantations, outskirt of towns, rural areas, villages, seaside and jungle

Due to the many problems arises from operating near the residential areas, the MOST RECOMMENDED areas are at farmlands, plantations, rural and jungle areas.

7. TYPE OF BUILDINGS PROHIBITED OR NOT RECOMMENDED FOR SWIFTLET NEST INDUSTRY


a) Modern residential houses in the housing estates
b) Multi-storey residential flats
c) Residential condominiums
d) Active multi-storey shopping complexes or centers
e) Government servant quarters
g) Government offices and buildings


8. CONCLUSION


The never-ending effort and advice contributed by many should be recognized by Malaysian Government to establish a committee or a separate department to specially handle the potential and its lucrative business venture for the benefit of the country as well as the environment terms of its ecology balance with ever-reducing protected species.


In essence, the proposal for revival of this under-explored industry is beneficial both in the upstream all the way down to the downstream where livelihood of lee fortunate settlers or locals can be improved with newly developed non-chaotic environmentally friendly man made design. This design is simple and beginning to gain acceptance among many interested entrepreneurs and investors.


The development of this industry will not only help domestically but will also have interalia multiplying effect on other non-related industry like housing development where abandoned projects or unoccupied properties can be minimally modified to diversify its original intention of human occupancy. Besides, the study also recognizes the importance of government awareness program by way of subsidies, sponsorships, providing further guidelines, grants for more studies and researches of this topic where it will eventually assist the Malaysian economy at large.


The Government should view seriously on the professional advice from experienced and knowledgeable birdhouse owners and experts on the possible economy impact of this potential industry to generate additional or revenue for the country. In one way or another, helps to improve the consumers, exporters, consultants and others by creating more jobs opportunities and generate sales revenue from exports and local consumption. It is strongly recommended that the Government of Malaysia place heavy emphasis on the development of this industry both for the people and economy of Malaysia.


CALCULATION FOR THE POTENTIAL RETURN OF A TYPICAL 22’ x 80’ OF A 3-STOREY SWIFTLET HOUSE

Total Built-Up Floor Area : 5,000 Sq. Ft.

As a benchmark for a successful swiftlet house, every one (1) square foot of built-up area can comfortably produce one edible nest every four (4) months period at mature stage ( between 4 to 6 years )
So, the 3-storey terrace shop with a built-up area of 5,000 sq. ft can produce 5,000 edible bird nests every four months. For the entire calendar year, the farm will yield approximately 15,000 edible bird nests.

Assuming : Prevailing Market price of unprocessed edible bird nest is at RM3,500 per kilogram,

On an average 120 bird nests = 1 kilogram
15,000 edible bird nest = 125 kilogram
125 kilogram of bird nest = RM 437,500

Therefore, the potential yield of a 22’ x 80’ 3-Storey Swiftlet house will be approximately RM 437,500 annually. With a capital investment of approximately RM500,000 ( land + building ), return of capital investment is between 4 to 6 years. Due to the potential high retun on this investment, some of the birdhouses of this size have been transacted more than a million!!