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)