Friday, November 27, 2009

Meda on returns from swiftlet farming

PETALING JAYA: Swiftlet farming, which is a relatively new industry in the country, may see an investor reap returns on investments of about RM965,500 after a seven-year period by investing RM688,000 in a swiftlet house.

According to Meda Inc Bhd director Vincent Tiew, with the rapidly emerging bird’s nest market globally, the demand for bird’s nests had grown tremendously. “The market demand for quality bird’s nests is increasing in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Korea,” he told reporters after the signing ceremony between Sri Lingga Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Meda Inc Bhd, and Golden Swift Resources Sdn Bhd (GSR) to launch an integrated eco-development named Nusa Swiftlet Eco-City yesterday. “As long as there are Chinese in the world, bird’s nests will be consumed,” he said.

Nusa Swiftlet is the only swiftlet house development in Malaysia that has obtained permission from the local authority, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. “This kind of modern swiftlet cultivation integrated project is still uncommon in Malaysia,” he said.

Each unit is a three-storey swiftlet house built on a one-acre land with built-up area of 22 ft by 72 ft. “Any extra land could be utilised for fruit or organic vegetable farming,” he said.
, adding that every single unit consists of reinforced concrete double walls and other swiftlet cultivation devices.” A total of 52 units are for sale at RM688,000 each. “You can do swiftlet cultivation on one acre of land and the yield way surpasses what you can do with one other long-standing industries,” he said.

Currently, Malaysia is the second largest exporter of bird’s nests, with annual production of about 135 tonnes. The price of bird’s nests has risen tremendously over the years. Currently, it ranges between RM2,000 and RM4,800 per kg for unprocessed nests and RM8,500 for processed nests while premium grade can reach RM10,000 to RM15,000. Tiew said investors could manage swiftlet houses themselves or assign the responsibility to GSR.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news

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