Ostrich-farming venture growing
By Yacob Herin
KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): If anyone jumped for joy on hearing the recent news about the "mad cow" scare in Britain, it would have been PT Royal Timor Ostrindo executives.
For Asrul Sutana, the company's president director, the news ignites the hope that his ostrich farming business will have bright prospects.
The company, with strong support from the provincial government, has started breeding ostriches for both domestic consumption and export -- Indonesia's first business venture to make many people raise their eyebrows.
Asrul's ambition is to make ostrich meat the first choice after beef, whose world supply has long been dominated by a few western countries, including Britain and Australia.
The company is hoping for a windfall from Europe's "mad cow" scare, although ostrich meat is not that popular yet, especially in Indonesia.
"We hope that consumers and suppliers will turn to ostrich meat. It tastes better than beef and is low in cholesterol," Asrul told The Jakarta Post.
The company is hopeful that it will be able to start selling its products as early as July.
Starting its unusual business last year, PT Royal Timor Ostrindo now has 1,076 ostriches on its 400-hectare farm in Lili Camplong, 60 kilometers east of Kupang.
The big, flightless birds were imported from Zimbabwe. East Nusa Tenggara has been chosen as the best breeding site because it has geographical and climatic features similar to Zimbabwe.
According to the company, it cost Rp 80 million (US$34,000) to import each ostrich.
In the local market, a kilogram of ostrich meat will reach Rp 100,000 and one egg Rp 600,000. The government-set average monthly wage in the province is Rp 96,000.
Asrul says in the domestic market, the target will be wealthy people in major cities, such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Medan and Batam.
The company is planning to export 80 percent of its products to Western Europe, the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.
Pessimists have voiced doubts about the ostrich business future, arguing that the expensive meat could only cater to the rich. Moreover, they said, it is not known how many wealthy people like ostrich meat.
Iing S. Warta Putra, the firm's public relations manager, said the project has benefited over 200 farmers. They supply the ostriches' feed, such as corn and grass.
In the future, Iing said, under a partnership agreement, farmers will be entrusted with breeding ostriches, or supplying the feed or land.
In the next five years, the company will need about 10,000 hectares of land for the breeding project. The demand for land could be meet only if it cooperates with farmers, who could supply the land under a cooperation arrangement.
The 1,076 ostriches consume about two tons of corn every day.
Governor Herman Musakabe, known as a zealous advocate of the project, has called on the locals to support the project because it also benefits them.
Herman went ballistic when a local newspaper warned that the birds could transmit the deadly disease Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, or Congo fever, to humans.
But the company was swift to appease the public. Its general manager, Edrich Hove, called a press conference to announce that the birds pose no health hazards because they were carefully selected and quarantined before being sent to the farm.
He said that of the 15 cases of Congo fever reported in the whole of Africa during the 19th century, only one case was in Zimbabwe. The disease was reported to strike again in the 1990s. Between 1994 and 1996, two people in Zimbabwe were reported to have died of the disease, he said.