STUDY ON SUITABLE HABITAT FOR SWIFTLET FARMING TEO WEE CHAI Bachelor of Engineering with Honors (Civil Engineering) 2009
UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS TESIS JUDUL: STUDY ON SUITABLE HABITAT FOR SWIFTLET FARMING SESI PENGAJIAN :2008/2009 Saya, TEO WEE CHAI (HURUF BESAR) mengaku membenarkan tesis * ini disimpan di Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademik, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut: 1. Tesis adalah hakmilik Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. 2. Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademik, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja. 3. Membuat pendigitan untuk membanguankan Pangkalan Data Kandungan Tempatan. 4. Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademik, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak dibenarkan membuat salinan tesis ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara institusi pengajian tinggi. 5. ** Sila tandakan ( ) di kotak yang berkenaan. SULIT TERHAD (Mengandungi maklumat yand berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972). (Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan oleh organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan). TIDAK TERHAD Disahkan oleh (TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (TANDATANGAN PENYELIA) Alamat tetap: No. 180 Lane 6 Dr. Siti Halipah Ibrahim Star Garden Green Road Nama Penyelia 93150 Kuching Sarawak Tarikh: 17 APRIL 2009 Tarikh: CATATAN * Tesis dimaksudkan sebagai tesis bagi Ijazah Doktor Falsafah, Sarjana dan Sarjana Muda ** Jika tesis ini SULIT dan TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak berkuasa/organisasi berkenaan dengan menyatakan sekali sebab dan tempoh tesis ini perlu dikelaskan sebagai SULIT dan TERHAD.
The following Final Year Project Report: Title Name : STUDY ON SUITABLE HABITAT FOR SWIFTLET FARMING : TEO WEE CHAI Matric No. : 15835 Has been read and approved by: DR. SITI HALIPAH IBRAHIM Date Supervisor
THE STUDY ON SUITABLE HABITAT FOR SWIFTLET FARMING TEO WEE CHAI This project is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (Civil Engineering) Faculty of Engineering UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK 2008
Dedicated to my beloved family... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This report could not have been written without Dr. Siti Halipah Ibrahim who served as my final year project supervisor. I would like to take this opportunity to thanks and appreciation Dr. Siti Halipah Ibrahim for patiently guided me through the project process, her ideas, support and motivation. I am greatly indebted to her for her encouragement and incessant help to achieve more than I expected of myself. My sincere appreciation also goes to our building services lab technicians and members under supervision of Dr. Siti Halipah Ibrahim, Mr. Rozaini Ahmad for his guidance and help when using the apparatus and useful technique during data collection, members Mr. Adam Hussary bin Ahmad, Mr. Mohamad Khairun bin Ishak and Miss Wennie Blantaw anak Enggu. Thanks to all my dearest classmates and freinds for always be there and support me. Last but not least, my beloved family who always give me encouragement and supporting through my life. Thank you. ii
ABSTRACT Swiftlet farming is a new industry in Sarawak as compared to other longstanding industries such as rubber, palm oil and timber. It is one of the businesses that involved a small capital investment and it can generate enormous returns in future. Swiftlet farming involves the conversion of human-centric building into structures for swiftlet. The purpose of this conversion is to let Swiftlet for nesting and protect them. The design and construction of such building will also helps to accommodate swiftlets population. Therefore, in order to increase the productivity of bird nest, study of the suitable habitat for swiftlet should be done thoroughly. Environment factors such as temperature, humidity, ventilation and light intensity are the keys for a successful swiftlet farm house. Internal temperature of building should maintain from 26⁰C to 35⁰C, humidity from 80% to 90%, low air velocity and light intensity less than 5 LUX. Proper ventilation and installation of humidifier could help the building to achieve the desirable range of environment factors. Location of structure will also be considered from direct sunlight direction to reduce the internal temperature. Only licensed swiftlet farming is legal. iii
ABSTRAK Pemeliharaan burung layang-layang adalah satu industri yang baru di Sarawak jika dibanding dengan bidang-bidang industri yang lain seperti getah, kelapa sawit dan kayu. Ia adalah satu perniagaan yang hanya memerlukan modal yang kecil and akan mendapat keuntungan yang lumayan di masa depan. Pemeliharaan burung layanglayang ini termasuk penukaran bangunan buatan manusia ke banguan pemeliharaan burang layang-layang. Tujuannya adalah untuk kediaman dan memberi perlindungan kepada burung layang-layang. Rekabentuk dan perbangunan bangunan tersebut juga boleh menambahkan populasi burung layang-layang. Oleh sebab demikian, pengetahuan berkaitan dengan habitat burung layang-layang dijalankan untuk menambahkan produktiviti sarang burung. Faktor seperti suhu dalaman, kelembapan, ventilasi dan keterangan cahaya merupakan faktor penting dalam pemeliharaan burung layang-layang yang berjaya. Suhu dalaman mesti kekal pada lingkungan 26⁰C ke 35⁰C, kelembapan dari 80% hinnga 90%, kadar kelajuan anjin and rendah dan keterangan cahaya yang kurang daripada 5 LUX. Ventilasi yang sesuai serta pemasangan mesin kelembapan boleh tolong mencapai lindungan faktor sekitar yang diharapkan. Arah struktur yang menhadapi arah cahaya matahari juga perlu dipertimbangkan untuk mengelakkan suhu dalaman yang tinggi. Pemerliharaan burung layang-layang hanya disahkan dengan menpunyai lessen tersebut. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Page APPROVAL LETTER APPROVAL SHEET TITLE PAGE DEDICATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT ABSTRAK TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF SUBCRIPTS AND SYMBOL i ii iii iv v ix x xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 General 1 1.0.1 History of bird nest 3 1.0.2 History of swiftlet farming 3 1.0.3 Swiftlet farming and the economy impact 7 1.0.4 Suitable habitation 10 1.1 Objectives of study 12 vi
1.4 Scope of studies 13 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 General 14 2.1 Air temperature 15 2.2 Air velocity 18 2.3 Relative humidity 19 2.4 Light intensity 22 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.0 General 23 3.1 Globe thermometer 26 3.2 ThermaHygrometer 27 3.3 Anemometer 28 3.4 Data logger 28 3.5 Photometer 31 CHAPTER 4 : RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.0 General 36 4.1 Temperature 4.1.1 Data logger 38 4.1.2 Globe thermometer 51 vii
4.2 Humidity 53 4.3 Air Velocity 55 4.4 Light intensity 4.4.1 Day time (8am 12pm) 57 4.4.2 Evening time (12pm 6pm) 59 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Condition 1 61 5.2 Condition 2 62 5.3 Condition 3 63 5.4 Condition 4 65 5.5 Light intensity 66 5.6 Air Velocity 66 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 6.1 Conclusion 68 6.2 Recommendation 69 REFERENCE 71 APPENDIX 72 viii
LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 1.1 Comparison between Swiftlet farming and palm oil plantation industry 9 Table 3.1 Methodology chart 25 Table 4.1 Channel location 39 ix
LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 1.1 A.Fuciphagus is only available within the circled countries 2 Figure 1.2 Example of shop lot converted swiftlet farming 4 Figure 1.3 Completed swiftlet house and ready to be operate (Batu Pahat) 5 Figure 1.4 Another successful shop lot converted bird house (Mukah) 5 Figure 1.5 Swiftlet building completed on agricultural land 6 Figure 3.1 Photo of selected site 24 Figure 3.2 Globe Thermometer 26 Figure 3.3 ThermoHydrometer 27 Figure 3.4 Anemometer 28 Figure 3.5 Data Logger 29 Figure 3.6 Thermocouple 29 Figure 3.7 Photometer 31 Figure 4.1 Location of Channel from Data Logger 38 Figure 4.2 Graph of CH01 40 Figure 4.3 Graph of CH02 41 Figure 4.4 Graph of CH03 42 Figure 4.5 Graph of CH07 42 x
Figure 4.6 Graph of CH08 43 Figure 4.7 Graph of CH04 44 Figure 4.8 Graph of CH05 44 Figure 4.9 Graph of CH06 45 Figure 4.10 Graph of CH09 46 Figure 4.11 Graph of CH10 46 Figure 4.12 Graph of CH11 47 Figure 4.13 Graph of CH12 47 Figure 4.14 Graph of CH13 48 Figure 4.15 Graph of CH14 48 Figure 4.16 Graph of CH15 49 Figure 4.17 Graph of CH16 49 Figure 4.18 Graph of CH17 50 Figure 4.19 Location of globe thermometer 51 Figure 4.20 Graph from globe thermometer 52 Figure 4.21 Location of humidity record 53 Figure 4.22 Graph of humidity 54 Figure 4.23 Location of air velocity check 55 Figure 4.24 Graph of air velocity 56 Figure 4.25 Light intensity during day time 57 Figure 4.26 Light intensity during evening 59 Figure 6.1 Ventilation layout 70 xi
LIST OF SUBSCRIPTS AND SYMBOL % percentage kg ⁰C RM ⁰F CH LUX kilogram Celsius Ringgit Malaysia Fahrenheit Channel SI unit of luminance and luminous emittance xii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction Swiftlets is a type of birds that similar to swallows, sparrows and house swifts but they are not closely related to each other. Swallows are often found in woody structures, forest and coastal areas. Sparrows are one of the few species of birds that associated with human inhabitants in city or town and they nest in cavities. Swiftlets are short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground. They are only perching vertically on surfaces or their nesting planks. Currently there are 24 species of swiftlets recorded in the world. The five most common species of swiftlets found in Malaysia and Borneo Island are H.Gigas, C. Esculent (White belly swifts), Asian Palm Swift (Cypsiurus Balasiensis), A.Fuciphagus and A. Maximu. (Lim, 2006). Swiftlets are insectivores; hymenopterans and dipterans being the most abundant prey (Lourie and Tompkins, 2000). Aerodramus Fuciphagus is the Swiftlet species that will build white edible nest. It consists of 90-95% of edible nest and 5-10% of feathers and purities. Matured birds nests will be harvested and sell to the market at handsome price. The 1
price of the nest is based on the quality and size of the nest. The nests are traditionally sold to middlemen, and most of them are sent to Indonesia for processing where impurities are painstakingly removed using tweezers. The cleaned nests are then sold at twice the original price. The beauty of the equation is that this particularr species of Swiftlet that produces edible bird nests is only available in the region of Southeast Asia as shown in Figure 1.1 Figure 1.1: A.Fuciphagus is only available within the circled countries (Source from Make Millions from Swiftlet Farming: A Definitivee Guide) Regular surveillance testss conductedd by the Department of Veterinary Services since the year 2000 have all come back negative for Newcastle Disease, Avian Influenza or Bird Flu. (Lim, 2006). Swiftlet are non-migratory and do not 2
share flying or nesting space with other species of birds. Hence their chance of contracting the bird flu virus is minimal. Swiftlet are constantly in the air because of their short legs and never perch anyway except their own nesting place. Swiftlet also do not share the same food and water sources with other birds or animals. They drink water droplets in the atmosphere and feed on insects flying mid air. 1.0.1 History of bird nest In Malaysia, the most famous place of bird s nest is Niah Cave of Sarawak, the discovery of ancient tools together with ceramic from the Tang and Sung Dynasties in Niah Caves suggested that Chinese merchants during those times may have traveled to East Malaysia for bird s nest trading. Based on early historical records, the consumption of bird nests can be dated back as far as one hundred and fifty centuries ago during the Tang Dynasty Period (618-907 A.D.). Bird s nest claimed to be nutrition and good for skin development. The common peoples in China were only made aware of their benefits 400 years ago, during the Ming and Qing Dynasty. 1.0.2 History of Swiftlet farming In Malaysia, the earlier 1980 s, Swiftlets started to nest in an abandoned wooden homes in coastal areas especially Sitiawan, Pekan and Teluk Intan. It was subsequently found that Swiftlet urbanization is humane and economical and also 3
helps to sustain the population of swiftlets. So fewer and fewer swiftlets chose to remain in their ancestral breeding grounds which is the natural caves because of the acceptable of urban environment that provides safety as well as the suitable habitation environment to swiftlets. Figure 1.2 and 1.4 shows the example of shop lot converted swiftlet farming and Figure 1.3 and 1.5 are example of swiftlet farming building on agricultural land. Figure 1.2: Example of shop lot converted swiftlet farming 4
Figure 1.3: Completed swiftlet house and ready to be operate (Batu Pahat) Figure 1.4: Another successful shop lot converted bird house (Mukah) 5
Figure 1.5: Swiftlett building completed on agricultural land Indonesian is the pioneer of custom built Swiftlet farms. It is believed that the first few Swiftlet farms originated from East Java in 1880. Practically no modification ns were done in these houses and it was believed that it was by sheer luck that the swiftlets colonized them. The 1990 s forest fire in Indonesia resulted heavy haze, this heavy haze and open burning has created a golden opportunity for Malaysia. The disaster forced millions of Swiftlet migrating to West Malaysia. In East Malaysia, the earliest swiftlet farming was done at Bintulu and it was until now very successful. It is then expendedd to Mukah, Sarikei and Kuching and slowly expended to Sibu, Miri and those rural areas. Until now, there were roughly 1500 swiftlet farming houses around Sarawak which was done on shop lot converted structure and on agricultural land. Sarawak was believed to have this type of swiftlet 6
species in the year before swiftlet farming. There are several places such as Bau and the famous Baram where this A.Fuciphagus swiftlet species could be found. It could be for purpose in search of food or better environment, this swiftlet migrate from one place to another and slowly expend the population of A.Fuciphagus after the swiftlet farming. A.Fuciphagus is a protected wild life by The Wild Life Protection Ordinance, 1998 in Sarawak. Application of license is necessary to own, maintain or operate a wild life farm under prescription of so called the Controller. Shop lot converted swiftlet farming is restricted by law in Sarawak and the enforcement was started taking action on it since December of 2008. There were only 2 licenses being issued by the government before December of 2008 and until the earlier of 2009, hundreds of license application being submitted and being process by department in charge. Several departments are involved in licensing applications were Sarawak Forestry Department, Sarawak Land and Survey Department, Environmental Department, Sarawak Economy Development Corporation and the Local Council. 1.0.3 Swiftlet Farming and the economy impact Swiftlet farming involves the conversion of human-centric building into structures for Swiftlet. The purpose of this conversion is to let Swiftlet nesting in that particular building and protects them. The design and construction of such buildings will also helps to accommodate swiftlets populations as well. 7
Swiftlet farming is still a new industry in Malaysia as compared to other long-standing industries such as rubber, palm oil and timber. It is one of the businesses that only involved a small capital investment and it can generate enormous returns in future. It is also one of the few rare investments that you can make back your investment within three years. The projected income generated from sales of bird nests from a standard 20 x 60 feet square shop lot stands at roughly RM10,000-20,000 per month which is also roughly 2-4kg per month. The bird nests are mostly sold to Chinese countries such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. With China fast emerging as one of the global superpowers, there is a constant unmatched demand for the supply of bird nests. This mismatch if further amplified during Chinese festivals such as Chinese New Year when gifts of bird nests are synonymous with wealth and good fortune. Besides only bird nest could generate extra income, the property or the successful farm house could also result in a handsome price from prospective buyers. For an example of a four storey shop lot has increased from RM450,000 to RM1,000,000 (appreciation of 122%) in less than 5 years. However, not all investors in Swiftlet farming were successful. The failure rate in Malaysia is at region of 50-70 percent. Currently, unprocessed bird nests are sold at Rm3,500-Rm5,500 per kilogram. After processing, they are mainly exported at RM8, 000-RM12, 000 per kilogram. Bird nests are the center of a multi-billion dollar industry in Asia. Indonesia alone exports 250-300 tons of nests worth Rm3.8 billion to Hong Kong and China, while 8
Malaysia exports only 25 tons of what they consider the best quality on the market. Malaysians exported a total of 18.6 tons of bird nests, mainly to Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan, valued at RM2.93 million in 1991. Today the trade is valued at RM150 million per year. Below is a roughly comparison between the business Swiftlet farming and palm oil plantation: Table 1.1: Comparison between Swiftlet farming and palm oil plantation industry Swiftlet Farming Palm Oil Plantation Area required Roughly 20 feet x 60 feet building 1 acre Make back investment 3 years 3 years Mass of harvesting 1 kg 1 ton Market Price RM4, 500/kg RM700/ton Investment increment Increasing annually Maintain The industrial of swiftlet farming also a potential investment compare to others industrials such as palm oil plantation. Bear in mind that successful swiftlet farming only required roughly a shop lot size s structure, the investment increment is increasing annually and the price is awesome. However, swiftlet farming operations on shop lot are prohibited in Sarawak. The Sarawak local authority only allowed swiftlet farming to be operate on agriculture land that is 35km far away from town area for hygienic and sound pollution prevention purpose. According to current media, the Sarawak Forestry 9