Monday, December 30, 2013

Happy New Year 2014

To accomplish great things,
We must not only act,
But also dream,
Not only plan but also believe,
Best wishes for New Year 2014

Sunday, December 29, 2013

AMG finalising plans to open Sandakan Bird's Nest Park

AMG International are in final discussions with a Chinese conglomerate partner to invest USD50 million (about RM160 million) to create Sandakan Bird’s Nest Economy Park (Sandakan Eco Park), which will be the world’s biggest managed agricultural centre.

Known as a fully integrated swiftlet farming investment management company, AMG International has been working closely with Sabah Swiftlet’s Nest Industry Association (SABA) since 2011 and currently owns 100 swiftlet farm houses in Sabah.

According to the Founder and Executive Chairman of AMG International, Woo Tiam Onn, the planned Sandakan Eco Park will be combined with integrated swiftlet house management, high tech processing facilities, state-of-the-art biotech R&D facilities, the Sandakan Government Regulated Inspection family and a series of leisure outlets such as a bird’s nest restaurant and exhibition tour centre.

AMG is targeting 3,000 farm units in accordance with the 10th Malaysia Plan to increase bird’s nest shipments to 30 per cent of world supply.

Woo, who made the announcement in his speech at the AMG Harvest Event which took place at Four Points Sheraton Hotel here yesterday, also said that AMG is planning to build another 200 houses with partners from China and Taiwan.

“This will be one of the most significant milestones for Sabah and Sandakan government,” he added.

Woo later shared the success of the AMG swiftlet project by announcing that a total of 5 tons of swiflet’s nest produced in Sandakan houses have been exported to China to date.

Meanwhile, SABA Chairman Datu Faisal Datu Bachtiyal, who is no stranger to Hong Kong, Singapore and China’s large-scale companies, said that SABA received increasing interest and demand from the China market on the swiftlet industry in the state.

He pointed out that with supportive government policies, business partners from Hong Kong, China and Singapore are poised to develop superb quality bird’s nest to meet the growing demand.

“By providing products with excellent quality, we can prove to the consumers that we are reliable, thus making Sabah’s bird’s nest known for its quality, especially in China,” he added.

Out of the four South East Asia bird’s nest supply countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, only Malaysia is classified as a ‘non bird-flu’ region.

During the event, AMG also launched their AMG brand of bird’s nest products, Shanhaiyan, which is produced by local bird’s nest and will be marketed to China.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Selangor the First State to Approve Swiftlet Licence


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SHAH ALAM, 8 Nov: Selangor became the first state to approve the granting of licence for the farming and operating industry of swiftlet nests through an intensive package offer that is fair to existing farmers and operators, with effect from 1 January 2014.

Executive Councillor for Local Government, Studies and Research, Datuk Teng Chang Khim, said that implementation of the policy was decided by the State Government Council Meeting (MMKN) after holding a dialoguesession with associations and operators of the industry on 25 September.

He said that the implementation will be done through the enforcement of Rearing of Swiftlet and Manufacturing of Swiftlets’ Nest By-laws 2013 in all Local Authorities in the state of Selangor.

“In the consideration process, the state government took into account several factors including the interests and problems of operators, in addition to the interest of the public in terms of hygiene, disease control, sound pollution, negative impact on property prices as well and building a comfortable city,” he said in a press statement at his office here today.

At the same time, Teng explained several key points of the implementation of the licencing policy which needs to be observed by swiftlet farmers and operators as decided at the MMKN.

“All breeders and operators on agricultural land will be granted licence starting 1 January, 2014. Breeders and operators of existing business premises will receive licences starting form 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2016, while breeders and operators on paddy fields will be given licences from 1 January 2014 to 1 December 2020.

“For breeders and operators in business premises as well as paddy fields, they will be given incentives which includes licensing fees, free quite rent and assessment for five years at the new site if they move their premises to existing farming sites within the period the licence is granted,” he said.

Chang Kim said that the granting of licence is subject to conditions provided for under the by-laws and all operators and breeders have to submit licence application no lter than 31 December this year.

“Licence application for operation in business premises and paddy fields, whether existing or new, will not be considered after 31 December this year and all applications will be submitted to the relevant local authorities.

“We hope that with the granting of this licence, breeders and operators of the swiftlet nest industry in Selangor will grow in an orderly manner, thus benefiting the economic development of the state,” he said.


Sunday, December 22, 2013

Edible nest swiftlet house model in Malaysia

Edible nest swiftlet house model displayed in the Department of Veterinary Services, Livestock Industry Division, Putrajaya, Malaysia. The cost varies between 100,000 to 250,000 depending on materials, sizes and number of floor. Malaysia is well known for it high quality, established standard and safety of edible birdnest in the world.