Surabaya turtledove-breeding farm booming despite crisis

By Widyarto

SURABAYA (JP): The way money circulates here is just the way it does in other business spots: clearly visible in huge amounts. The difference is that this place is free from any formality related to time and location. Few wear a tie. Many only don a sarong and wear sandals.

Another difference is that a buyer will be very careful before deciding to buy. He may need hours or even days. If necessary, he may spend a night, and everything -- accommodation, meals and drinks -- will be free of charge.

There is no special room in which to conclude a transaction. Neither is there any special furniture, just five chairs. If you get bored sitting on the carpeted floor, you simply stand up.

This place is a perkutut (turtledove) breeding farm owned by H. Mochammad Huzainni, in Surabaya, East Java. In a single day, transactions may involve tens or even hundreds of millions of rupiah.

Some visitors admit that they have come here not out of love alone but also out of need. To many of them, their livelihood is buying and selling perkutut. Indeed, it is strange that since the onset of the monetary crisis over half a year ago, this business has picked up considerably.

"This is the right cure for depression brought about by the crisis," said H. Ali Badri, who runs a cement business and is a great lover of turtledoves and horses.

"Three months ago, I lost Rp 900 million because of a bad check. To alleviate my stress, I tried doing a side business here. Unexpectedly, I made a large profit in this business," said the 38-year-old Badri, who, over time, has invested Rp 400 million in the turtledove business.

Turtledoves have no distinction in their feathers. However, the sound produced when they coo is what makes them very special. To turtledove lovers the melodious sound of the bird means big money. If the bird is a winner in a contest, its selling value will increase many times.

Perkutut are widely found in tropical areas, from Senegal in Africa, to Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia in Asia, and on to Australia, where it is prolific. Between 20 centimeters and 25 centimeters long, a turtledove is dominated by the gray color on its breast and its head.

Female turtledoves are smaller than the male. Generally, it is male turtledoves which produce golden sounds.

The sound of Senegalese doves and Australian Diamond doves are strange compared with Indonesian turtledoves because of its heavy tone.

A small turtledove from Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, has a softer coo than a Bangkok dove, which produces a loud coo. In bird farms in Asia, these two species are often crossbred, and this yields superior turtledoves, which are good for contests.

Captive breeding of this bird is no easy thing. A small turtledove will lay only two eggs. Although the mother bird can coo, this is no guarantee that its offspring will also have this quality.

Indonesian turtledoves enjoyed their heyday with lovers of singing/cooing birds in 1970s. In the next decade, it was the turn of crossbred turtledoves that dominated the market. At that time, turtledove centers were in Tasikmalaya, West Java, and Yogyakarta. Now, hundreds of small turtledove breeders are found all over the country.

IBM

One of the more famous small turtledove breeding farms is one owned by H.M. Huzainni, 45, who hails from Madura. It is located at Jl. Dupak Bandarejo 10, North Surabaya, is called IBM (Indonesia Bagian Madura, the Madurese part of Indonesia).

In mid-1992, Huzainni, a scrap-iron trader in a flea market, sustained great losses. He almost lost all his wealth. To relieve the stress, he spent his time enjoying the cooing of birds. For the first time in his life he purchased a turtledove, for Rp 17.5 million.

"Unexpectedly, two months later, someone offered to buy my bird for Rp 40 million and I sold it to him," he said. The next year he bought another turtledove, for Rp 35 million.

Being an avid badminton enthusiast, he named the 8-month-old bird after Mia Audina, one of Indonesia's top badminton players.

Huzainni entered the bird in a national contest in Jakarta in 1993 and it won. In became national champion again in the next year's contest.

In that year, Huzainni added Damarwulan and Susi Susanti to his collection of turtledoves. Over the years, his doves always came first in contests held by the All-Indonesia Association of Turtledove Enthusiasts. In 1995, Susi Susanti became world champion in a contest in Bangkok. Now, it is the mascot of his bird farm.

Right after Susi Susanti's Bangkok success, Huzainni began to develop his bird farm.

"At present, I can't cope with all the orders for the export of superior dove breeds to Bangkok. I can't even meet the demand from Indonesian breeders," said Huzainni, a shy father of four.

Turtledove enthusiasts are eyeing the talented offspring of Susi Susanti. The offsprings' value increases as they change hands several times among bird lovers.

The direct offsprings are classified as A type and are sold for Rp 12.5 million each. Then there are B, C and D categories, depending on the proximity in lineage to Susi Susanti. They are priced Rp 1.5 million, Rp 500,000 and between Rp 100,000 and Rp 150,000 respectively.

If a buyer is observant enough, a bird from the lowest category may be sold at a higher price. H. Abdullah, a scrap-iron vendor of Surabaya, for example, bought a small turtledove for Rp 65,000 but sold it a month later at the astonishing price of Rp 15 million.

His guess when buying the bird proved correct. The bird turned out to be able to produce a golden sound. Unexpected profit- making like this happens often.

Celebrities, government officials, businesspeople and other turtledoves enthusiasts are ready to fork out huge amounts of money to buy turtledoves.

Many act as brokers. Last month, Ali Badri made the highest transaction in the turtledove business.

The bird belonged to Banjarmasin businessman Boy Tanjung, who bought it last year from IBM Bird Farm for Rp 7 million but did not take it home.

Three months later, Ali Badri got interested in the bird, called Cinta Kasih (Loving Kindness) and finally bought it for Rp 15 million. Then another person offered to buy it for Rp 50 million.

In another week, the five-and-a-half-month-old bird was valued at Rp 100 million. This transaction was a repeat of a record transaction for a turtledove in Indonesia in 1995. The transaction was concluded at the same place and for the same value.

Uniquely, 2.5 percent of a transaction at IBM Bird Farm is always set aside for charity. In 1997, donations amounted to hundreds of millions of rupiah.

Huzainni has a strong conviction now that he is treading on the right track. He is also proud of the fact that in the 1980s, when the center of superior turtledove breeding was in Bangkok, it moved to Central Java.

Indonesia is now famous for exporting turtledoves of superior breeding. He is also optimistic that his turtledove business will continue to flourish amid the generally sluggish economic condition.