DURI, Indonesia, June 16 KYODO
All humans desire longevity and good health. To stay young and healthy, some may spend money on aerobics classes, yoga sessions or sitting in hot springs.
But have you ever imagined slurping a bowl of slimy birds' nest soup that is supposed to immunize you against every disease known to medicine, like the Chinese do?
For centuries, traditional Chinese doctors have been using swiftlet nests to cure various ailments, raise libido and rejuvenate skin. And for those purposes, swiftlet nests have been actively sought in Asia, particularly in China.
Introduced by prominent Chinese admiral Cheng He, swiftlet nests are among the most expensive animal products. The soup has been a Chinese culinary treat for over 400 years, consumed by those who do not care about the price.
The Communist revolution in China was the low point for the industry, when birds' nest soup was considered a luxury and Chinese people were prohibited from buying and selling birds' nests.
At present, a ''reasonable'' price for a bowl of swiftlet nest soup is about $45.
But if you are looking for a bowl of soup with a top-quality nest, known as ''Phoenix Swallowing the Swallow,'' prepare to pay at least $100. It is a clear consomme extracted from a whole chicken stuffed with top-quality birds' nests.
Swiflets, however, live only in the tropics, like Indonesia. It makes swiftlet nests from the country loved so much by the Chinese.
Boedi Mranata, head of the trade department of the Association of Indonesian Swiftlet Nest Farmers and Businessmen, said that annually, Indonesia exports about 400 tons of nests to some countries, with 250 tons being shipped to China.
In 2009, the total value of the national export of birds' nests reached $226 million.
Indonesia is the world's largest producer of swiftlet nests. Last year, according to Mranata, it produced 70 percent to 80 percent of the world's edible birds' nests.
Most are exported to China, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore and Taiwan with the Chinese eating more than 60 percent of the world's supply.
Birds' nests are indeed a multimillion-dollar industry in Asia. For that reason, basic commodity businessman Thiu Ka Heng started his own birds' nest business five years ago.
Thiu admitted, however, that the birds' nest business is a difficult one. Swiftlets choose their owners carefully.
''It depends on your luck, your good fortune. It's a matter of match. If the birds are matched with you, your business can grow. That's why this is only my side, not main business. If you only have a limited amount of money, don't ever try to do this business,'' he said.
Swiftlets build nests with their glue-like saliva, cemented on the walls of cold, dark places like limestone caves, tunnels, under the roofs of coves along seashores, and in barns, far away from predators.
With the increasing demand, since late 1990s, they have been supplanted by purpose-built nesting houses, following the design of Southeast Asian shop-houses.
The nesting houses are usually built in urban areas near the sea since the birds flock nearby. A series of towns in the northern part of Sumatra, including Duri in Sumatra's Riau Province, have mostly transformed into swiftlets' nesting houses.
Ejon Jeronimus, chairman of the Association of Swiftlet Nest Businessmen in Duri, said there are currently about 100 swiftlet nest businessmen in Duri alone, which has a population of about 225,000 people.
Shop-houses with small windows on higher stories can be seen in the town. A shop-house building usually has between two to four stories.
''I use the first floor of my shop-house for my main business, the second for my house and the third and fourth for swiftlet houses,'' Thiu said, showing his bird houses, which are kept dark 24 hours a day.
Thiu told of how difficult it was at first to attract swiftlets to stay at his shop-house.
''For a year after I began my birds' nest business, none of the swiftlets arrived. But once a swiftlet came, it brought more and more friends,'' he said, adding swiftlets are homebodies that usually return to their place again and again.
To attract passing swiftlets, harvesters broadcast birdcalls through loudspeakers for 24 hours a day like Thiu does. Inside the house, they also broadcast slower, calmer bird songs, which are ''like lullabies, so the birds can sleep well,'' he said.
The prices of the birdcall cassettes vary, between 20,000 rupiah to 5 million rupiah.
''The expensive ones are usually those once used by successful birds' nest businessmen, but actually, they don't guarantee that your shop-house can attract swiftlets, because as I said, it's the bird who will choose you,'' he said.
Nests, where swiftlets raise their hatchlings, are harvested every three months after the chicks have flown. When the birds return they rebuild their nests.
A pair of swiftlets can raise two or three broods a year, with each family building its own residence.
The business, Thiu stressed, requires patience.
''Harvesters should wait until the young birds are raised and gone, but some just take the nests away, spill the eggs or throw the fledglings onto the floor,'' he said.
According to Jeronimus, most of successful businessmen in the bird nest business in the country are Chinese Indonesians.
Many native Indonesians, who also try to get involved in the lucrative business, went unsuccessfully, because they lack patience and want to get rich as soon as possible.
''Greed and impatience will not produce any success in this business. Only the Chinese know the secrets,'' he laughed.
==Kyodo
The original source of this article is here.
