Does Sulu Sultan own the Gomantong Caves?

Gomantong Caves are famous for its bird nest harvest. It is situated near Sandakan, Sabah.

Gomantong Caves consist of 3 caves namely Simud Hitam, Simud Putih and Bobong Bulud which are interconnnected.

The three caves are huge and occupied by two natural inhabitants. There are swiflets and bats. One can see the spectacular view in the evening when the bats move out from the caves in millions in the form of "smoke" seen from far. Slightly later the swiflets return from their day time foraging to the caves in almost the same strength.

The natives used to harvest the bird nests for sales to traders.

In 1881, the British North Borneo Chartered Company acquired Sabah and expelled the Sultan of Sulu. It claimed ownership of the Gomantong Caves. It introduced a tender system for the bird nest harvest. The harvestors had to declare its bird nests to administrators before sales to traders.

In 2000, the decendants of the heir of Gomantong Caves formed an action committee to claim its right of ownership from the Sabah government.

With the recent Sultan of Sulu claimed the ownership of Sabah, which creates tension in that region, may be the bird nest harvest will be delayed for a while.

Posted by Chai Yong of http://www.banyan-bird-nest.com

When can Malaysia export bird nest to China?

It has been two year plus since the China government banned the import of bird nest from Malaysia to its country.

Two years have seen continous effort from the Malaysian bird nest industrialists, at the early stage sporadic, turning to concerted effort involving government departments to deal with its counterparts in China.

As the government agencies are beaurocratic, to date the export issue has not been resolved.

Two weeks ago, some bird nest industrialists went for peaceful demonstration on their plight. As a result, two days ago Malaysia government special agent, Dato' Ong Ka Ting has met with some bird nest organizations and promised that he would co-ordinate with China counterparts to arrange for inspection of some bird nest cleaning factories in Malaysia. Hopefully, this can be arranged in the shortest time possible.

The Malaysian government is concerned with the processed bird nests. How about the unprocessed or raw one? The raw bird nest occupies about 90% of the bird nest export to China before the outburst of the blood bird nest incident in China.

It seems that the bird nest industrialists wish to resolved the cleaned bird nest first before touching on the unprocessed one.

Posted by Chai Yong of http://www.banyan-bird-nest.com

Bees addicted to junk food

Beekeepers at the town Ribeauville in the Region of Alsace of France found their honey in blue and green color.

Out of curiosity, they tried to trace their bees’ source of honey. They found that instead of obtaining nectar from the local field, their bees have gone to a nearby biogas plant for sugary snack.

The plant processed waste for Mars which made M&M’s chocolates in blue and green sugar based shells.

This means the honey produced is not merchantible and not fit for use. The beekeepers suffered loss as a result.

The plant has  since cleared their containers and will keep future waste in covered halls to prevent patronizing of the bees.

Posted by http://www.the-honey.com

Fine on Bird Nest Industrialist?

According to a source from Beijing, foreigners who bring in bird nest to China without former documentation will be fined RMB5,000. This new regulation has been officially stipulated in a custom procedure and took effect from 1 November 2012.

The regulation has been in place for quite some time but without official document. Thus , it deterred the custom to implement the regulation effectively. Now with the formal custom procedure, the custom can conduct its duty more effectively.

Does this new development affect the bird nest industrialists in Malaysia?

It is reported that it affects only  those bird nest industrialists who export the bird nest to Hong Kong. The reason being the source of “illegal” bird nest is Hong Kong.

While Malaysian Government is formalizing the procedure on the export of cleaned bird nest to China, the bird nest industrialists are confident that one day when the export procedures are established, they should be able to export bird nests by formal way to China. They still hope that that moment is in the near future, hopefully before the Chinese New Year.

In the meantime, the bird nest industrialists keep stock of the bird nests.

The future of bird nests is definitely bright bearing in mind that this rare nature product is in demand in China but cannot be found in China.

Hopefully, the Malaysian Government and bird nest industrialists could work together hand in hand to overcome any obstacle in the export of bird nests to China.

Posted by Chai Yong of http://www.banyan-bird-nest.com

 

China-Malaysia Bird Nest Export Agreement

On 22 September 2012, China and Malaysia have set their respective hands on the Bird Nest Export Agreement in Nanning, Guangxi Province, People’s Republic of China.

Following the ceremony, there are still works to be done before processed bird nests can be practically exported to China.

The Bird Nest Export Agreement only involves processed bird nest. It does not include unprocessed bird nest which accounts for 95% of the bird nest products of Malaysia.

There are many importers from China waiting for China and Malaysia to formalize the export agreement. They intend to import bird nest from Malaysia once the agreement was signed.

The mid-autumn festival is over now. We can only hope to export the bird nests to China before the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Considering bird nest made from the swiftlet saliva, it is such a rare product that people from China are looking for.

There is no question on the demand on bird nest. We must strive to clear whatever obstacle like RFID system which will definitely bog down the export of bird nest to China particularly.

Posted by Chai Yong from http://www.banyan-bird-nest.com

Asystasia - Another Source of Honey in Malaysia

 

Asystasia gangetia has a common name : creeping foxglove. It belongs to a plant family called Acanthaceae. It thrives lavishly in tropical Asia including Malaysia.

This plant is a fast growing, invasive and attractive ground cover with small beautiful flower. The flower is white in color with purple strip on the lower petal. It attracts honey bees to come to obtain nectar.

Besides attracting honey bee, its flower also lures butterflies. The flower also serves as food to beetle.

Asystasia is quite invasive that it could smother the surrounding vegetation with its herbaceous layer.

It can be used as mass planting under large trees. It can be propagated from cuttings taken after flowering. It thrives in semi-shade areas and under full sun.

Posted by Chai Yong of http://www.the-honey.com

A Scandal?

The recent news on the bird’s nest export  agreement between China and Indonesia reveals that there are big differences between the agreement between Malaysia and China and that between Indonesia and china.

Let’s review some details of the agreement between Indonesia and China.

Pursuant to the agreement, the bird’s nest must be selected, cleaned and heated at a temperature more than 70 degree Celcius for 3.5 second. It must be packed and labeled showing the product name, weight,  farmer’s details, production registration number, production date, storage instruction, veterinary department registration number etc.

The qualified bird’s nest exporter must submit export application to the Agriculture and Forestry Product Export director. He must attach his trading licence for the purpose.

There is no mention on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) which currently becomes a big issue in Malaysia. Surprisingly, there is no requirement on the minimum nitrite content which is imposed on Malaysian bird’s nest.

The types of bird’s nest products that can be exported to China from Indonesia include cleaned and uncleaned bird’s nest. In Malaysia only cleaned bird’s nest is allowed.

Malaysia and Indonesia are two ASEAN countries. Why there are two different kind of treatment in the bird’s nest export agreement?

The bird’s nest association now starts to suspect that the Agriculture Department officer and the RFID provider willfully imposed the requirement in the midst of chaos in respect of blood bird’s nest and finally ban from China.

The bird’s nest association vowed to find out more evidence before taking further action.

Posted by Chai Yong of http://www.banyan-bird-nest.com