MALAYSIA: GOVERNMENT SET UP 2 COMMERCIAL OSTRICH FARMS

English/Nat Asia, famous for its exotic food, is beginning to experience a new craze - ostriches. Malaysia has started the ball rolling with two commercial ostrich farms and one experimental farm run by the government. Farms are also reportedly being set up in Indonesia and Thailand. The huge flightless birds are touted as the latest money making venture in the region, and they're also proving to be a boon for meat lovers among Southeast Asia's Hindu and Buddhist populations. The birds thrive in the disused oil palm estate just outside Kuala Lumpur, quite different from the vast expanses that they're used to in Australia or in their native Africa. This one year old two-acre farm is the first commercial ostrich venture in Malaysia. The 100-odd African Blacks were imported from Namibia, and have all been snapped up by eager investors the moment they arrived. SOUNDBITE: English) "It's a bit like a lot of industries where people can see they can make money but how do they get involved in it? So what we do is people buy a bird, we manage it for them and when the birds mature, we enter into a share farming arrangement, not a partnership. It's a share farming arrangement whereby we manage the birds, look after them, rear them, we take a percentage of the chicks and they have a percentage of the chicks. It's a profit sharing situation." SUPER CAPTION: Murray Pettit, Managing Director, Ratus Mesra. Murray Pettit and Andrew Eagleton are experienced farmhands from Australia. They chose to come to Malaysia because of rising costs back home. Their farm is given big tax breaks by the Malaysian government which is keen to encourage the industry. According to Pettit, ostriches are hardy creatures that grow well in any conditions, and a warm climate like Malaysia's is particularly suitable. SOUNDBITE:(English) "Just to prove that it would work, we brought in day-old chicks. We've been here a year now and as you can see, there's a whole lot of birds behind us, they're reared and the climate is fine." SUPER CAPTION: Murray Pettit, Managing Director, Ratus Mesra. A pair of two-month old baby ostriches costs 2-thousand dollars. By the time they grow into prolific two-year olds, they can fetch up to almost 30- thousand dollars. And no part of an ostrich is wasted. The skin is said to be top of the heap stuff, even better than crocodile leather as it can't be copied. The feathers are used as dusters in car and computer applications, as they pick up dust but create no static. Even the eyelashes are put to use. They end up in cosmetics, as does the fat from the bird. As for the meat, it's like beef but said to be more tender and low in cholesterol. And in Asia where there are large numbers of Hindus and Buddhists, who don't take beef, the ostrich is fast becoming a popular substitute. SOUNDBITE:(English) "A lot of people do not take beef over here in Malaysia because of religious beliefs and the multiracial composition of the country. But when you have ten people dining together, if you serve ostrich meat, it can be accepted by all ten people. That's why it's a lot more popular than beef right now. SUPER CAPTION: Philip Siew, Managing Director, Tat Thong Group of restaurants. But ostrich meat doesn't come cheap. It's about three times more expensive than beef. Still, there's talk of prices falling as the industry picks up and the meat is mass marketed. For the moment, there are not enough birds in Malaysia to run an abattoir. So the meat is still being imported. But given another five years, these fifteen-month-olds will be starting a reproductive life cycle that should see a boom in the industry. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3fe4909d7e5282a2fb34812486845fa7 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork