VietNamNet Bridge, Vietnam – Feb 9, 2014
18:36′ 09/02/2014 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – The young man led his guests into a dark house. The guests could not see because of the darkness but could hear the sounds of birds and sense a strange smell; their steps squished into thick guano; suddenly, the house lit up and they saw thousands of swallows perched on the ceiling.
Swallows living in houses
This house was located in the best of the Go Cong market area. The plate that hangs over the door says it is a place for raising swallows, belonging to Hoang Yen Eka Salanganes Center.
The house is probably the strangest in the area. If you stand in front, you will see now windows, only air holes. At the back, there are two rectangular holes which look like the bartizans of a fortress.
The two-floor house is home to thousands of swallows. On the ceiling they gather in groups, while on the floor, the guano becomes thicker everyday; it is ornamented by feathers and eggs.
At 5 pm every day, the swallows return home. They circle the sky over the house and then enter through the bartizans of the fortress.
The driver who carried the guests to the house, looks at the flying birds and smacks his lips, ”Other people can spend several billions of VND to buy a house for birds, while I have no money to buy a house for myself.”
The white gold storehouse
Swallows always build their nests on high sheer rock cliffs of caves on islands out at the sea. A special characteristic of these birds is they build their nests with their saliva, called salanganes. Salanganes is a very nutritious food with medicinal qualities; but is very expensive.
Previously, people never thought of raising swallows. In March 2006, Le Dang Hoang, the first person to raise swallows in Vietnam, discovered a flock in a house in Go Cong town. Hoang decided to buy several houses in the Go Cong area to into a sort of urban aviary. He also helped re-design the adjacent houses to be more suitable for swallows.
Many then began raising swallows to get salanganes. And Hoang began cherishing his hope to develop a ‘swallow village’ in Long Binh commune near Go Cong town. However, he has yet to implement the plan because right after he revealed his idea to build a swallow village, the land price suddenly skyrocketed.
However, Hoang has never given up his idea because he knows that in Thailand and Indonesia people also raise swallows on a large scale.
The driver may not know that he was standing in front of a white gold storehouse. Home-raised swallows’ nests are now priced at $1,500-1,800/kg. On average, a nest weighs 12g, so one kilogram is 100 nests. A reasonably sized house can be home to several thousand birds.
Currently, raising swallows has become more popular. Can Gio district in HCM City is where many people are raising the birds. The area has many advantages: land prices are affordable, it is located on the mangrove forest area and next to the fields of Long An and Go Cong. Can Gio proves to be ideal for raising swallows because of bountiful food access and an appropriate living environment.
Scientists say that the swallows that build their nests in houses have the scientific name Aerodramus Fuciphagus Amechanus. Different from Aerodramus Fuciphagus Germani that builds nests and reproduces seasonally, these birds builds their nests and reproduce throughout the entire year.
To date, Hoang’s company, specializing in transferring technology on raising home swallows, serves several hundred clients.
“Now I can say for sure that raising swallows in Vietnam is feasible, and Vietnam has more favorable conditions for raising them than Indonesia and Malaysia, which are well exceeding Vietnam towards this end,” Hoang said happily.
Statistics show that Indonesia, the first country in the world to raise swallows, now has 10,000 swallow houses with 45mil birds, while Vietnam has some 750,000 birds only. The country can produce 80-100 tons of salanganes every year which can bring in over $200mil. However, swallow raising has been slowing down due to the lack of food for swallows in the wild. Therefore, some Malaysian and Taiwanese businessmen are now seeking opportunities in Can Gio.
Hoang said that half his clients are farmers and have asked him to share his secrets and technology on raising swallows. It is a profitable business and the birds can help protect rice fields.
From the fortresses, every day, swallows fly out to seek food. They eat many kinds of insects, especially those that harm paddies.
Also thanks to the profuse source of food, Vietnam’s home swallows are recognized as having better quality than those from other countries.
The swallows in Vietnam are different from other swallows. Their nests are built solely out of their saliva, and are without impurities. Therefore, Vietnamese salanganes are more expensive, even five times more expensive than Thailand.
Hoang cracked a joke that in several more years, architects will feel unhappy as more and more people will raise swallows and more of these suburban fortresses will be built.
