No proper guideline for swiftlet farming yet

By CHRISTINA LOW
christinalow@thestar.com.my

SWIFTLET farming in Selangor has become a popular business choice for many entrepreneurs, however, the state government has yet to come up with a proper guideline or issue licence to those involved in it.

State local government, study and research committee chairman Ronnie Liu said at the Selangor state assembly that each council within the state was issuing only temporary licences for the business as they had yet to come up with a guideline that could be imposed across the state.

Liu said the exco had also decided not to follow the guidelines used by the Federal Government as it was confusing.

“Some of the points in it are confusing and we do not think it is suitable for us to use them, they have points like one can operate the swiftlet business in towns but not in the city.

“This is confusing not only to us but to those who want to apply for licences as we do not know how to define it as city or town,” he said when replying to a question by Gan Pei Nei (DAP-Rawang).

Gan also asked how much were the returns received from each council from the temporary licensing of the swiftlet industry from 2009 to this year.

Liu said total returns from the five municipal and district councils for the swiftlet industry came to RM436,355 with Sabak Bernam District Council receiving the highest amount of RM36,450 while the Kajang Municipal Council was the least obtaining just RM200.

To another question by Ng Sue Lim (DAP-Sekinchan) on the possibility of the business operation on padi fields, Liu said padi was regarded as a great source of income for the state hence the exco did not want to lose the padi fields to the swiftlet industry.

To another question by Lee Kee Sim (PKR-Kajang) who suggested introducing an interim guideline for the swiftlet industry to curb the mushrooming of the business similar to budget hotels and massage parlours, Liu said they were now utilising the temporary licences.

“Business owners have to comply with the guidelines set by the different local councils accordingly. It takes time for us to set a standard guideline for all but we will look into it,” he said.