Introduction to swiftlet farming
Posted by daveckw in 
Bird nests are produced by a genetic birds called Aerodramus Fuciphagus and are regarded as the most expensive delicacies of all time. Swiftlet farming industries are booming rapidly with new farm coming up every week. Sales of bird nests reach millions of Ringgit in transaction throughout Malaysia and the volume is increasing annually.
Malaysia has been involved in swiftlet farming for past three decades but it has only experienced tremendous growth in the past six years. In 1980s one of the wooden houses in Pekan town became first natural swiftlet nesting place. At that time, there were no audio sound systems, temperature control system and others advance equipments. Now technology has proven to be very effective in luring birds into the bird houses.
The main reason for the exponential growth in swiftlet farming is due to the gigantic demand from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. The demand for bird nest products is so great that the supplier often cannot match the demand. Since the demand outstrips supply by almost 300%, this industry will continue to grow in the foreseeable future.
Updates 27/11/2011:
Due to the recent bad publicity on birdnests in China and also in Malaysia, the birdnests prices have decreased significantly. China government and Malaysia government is still negotiating on the allowable Sodium Nitrate content in processed and raw birdnests. On the Malaysian side, we have proposed 70 ppm for processed bird nests and 150 ppm for raw nests. It is still uncertain whether this proposal will be accepted by the Chinese authority.
