Firm devises swift way to nest egg

from www.thestar.com.my By MANJIT KAUR
manjit@thestar.com.my

BUKIT MERTAJAM: A Kulim-based company has come up with a new method of breeding swiftlets in an artificial environment.Aeroswift Group of Companies group chief executive officer Khairil Sani Wong Abdullah said they are the first private company collaborating with the Veterinary Services Department and several local universities to perfect the technique. He claimed that his research-based company was the first in the world to have created an aviary in Kulim using the know-how.

Tender care: Baby swiftlets in plastic nests being fed at the Aeroswift Group of Companies. “We also have a section to breed a type of fruit fly which is used to feed the swiftlet chicks. The chicks are raised in plastic nests before they are transferred to huge cages.“The method has proven to be successful and this will stabilise the multi-billion ringgit industry for the future,” he said at an Awareness of Swiftlet Rearing Industry talk at a hotel here.

 

Khairil said a bigger research centre was being built in Selangor and it will have 12 research officers and veterinarians based there when completed by the end of next month. He added that Malaysia is the only country which legally exported bird nest to China, and there was huge market in the Middle-East and Europe as well.