Trade Minister reveals economic value of songbird ecosystem reaches Rp2 trillion

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Trade Minister Budi Santoso has revealed that Indonesia’s songbird ecosystem holds substantial economic value, reaching Rp1.7 trillion to Rp2 trillion.

Speaking at the Songbird Singing Competition and UMKM Culinary Festival in Jakarta on Sunday, he stated that this potential is expected to grow with the increasing number of songbird singing competitions held across various regions.

“If songbird singing competitions become more numerous, their impact will also grow larger. The economic value behind songbird singing is around Rp1.7 to Rp2 trillion. Our ornamental bird exports last year were about Rp12.5 billion,” he said.

Budi explained that the vibrancy of songbird singing competitions does not merely affect hobbies but also drives growth in connected business sectors within the ecosystem chain, from bird breeders and breeders to supporting industries like feed and equipment.

“Since these are farmed birds, there will be more breeders, more breeding activities, more cage makers, more feed factories, more cricket farmers—since crickets are one of the birds’ foods—and of course, more sellers,” he said.

Furthermore, the Trade Minister emphasised that developing the songbird ecosystem aligns with environmental conservation efforts. He stressed that the birds entered in competitions are bred ones, not captured from the wild, thus not threatening bird populations in their natural habitats.

“I want to introduce to everyone how we can love the environment, how we can conserve songbirds, and the birds being competed are not wild ones, but farmed birds,” he added.

The government, he said, is committed to continuing to encourage better and more vibrant songbird singing competitions in the future.