Australia wants ostrich farm investors

Australia wants ostrich farm investors

JAKARTA (JP): PT Prima Unggas Investama is offering local
investors special incentives to invest in ostrich farming in
Australia.

Prima's president Andi M. Ichran said yesterday his company
had been appointed by Australia's Circle C International
(CCI)/Global Ostrich Group to market their investment package.

Andi said investors did not have to own or start a new farm
under the incentive package.

"All investors need to do is to buy at least a couple of
ostriches to be kept and bred in CCI/Global Ostrich farms in
Australia," he said.

Investors will profit from the sale of the meat of their
ostriches' offspring, he said. Ostriches are ready to be sold
for their meat at 12 months, he said.

Ostriches start to breed at two years, and can produce between
20 and 40 chicks a year. Ostriches are productive for as long as
20 years.

"Investors can double their assets by breeding more ostrich
hens," he said.

Many local investors are interested in opening up ostrich
farms here but cannot because the government has stopped issuing
investment licenses to newcomers.

Andi said if local investors invested in Australian ostrich
farms, his company would guarantee that their ostriches would be
sold at the Australian Ostrich Company's current prices.

He said ostriches were insured for death, accident and
infertility under the investment package. Investors will be
guaranteed that their ostrich produces at least one chick a year.

Each ostrich would have an microchip bearing its
identification number, he said.

Andi said Prima Unggas, which also distributes ostrich meat
here, had attracted at least 100 local investors to the share
farming scheme in Australia.

Last year, the government called a halt to issuing permits to
open new ostrich farms here until 1999.

There are six ostrich farms in Indonesia. They are PT Royal
Ostrindo, PT Cikal Bakal Tunas Bangsa, PT Danuarta Sinar Bahtera,
PT Cisada Kemasuri, PT Danuarta Cemerlang, and PT Royal Timor
Ostrindo.

They have invested Rp 535 billion (US$219.08 million) and
expect to produce 828 tons of ostrich meat a year. (das)