In 2003, Le Danh Hoang, then an economics student in Ho Chi Minh City, had the opportunity to meet Indonesian businessmen who were visiting Vietnam to popularize their technique of raising Salangane, or swiftlets, in artificial habitats.

Swiftlet’s nests are much sought-after in East and Southeast Asia as a healthy and delicious dish and fetch huge prices.

Though the businessmen failed to attract public attention, they succeeded in sowing a seed in Hoang, soon to bear sweet fruits.

Smitten, Hoang traveled to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong and the US to study more about raising Salangane, which generally nest on steep cliffs.

Returning to Vietnam in 2005, he founded Eka Vietnam, a company specializing in artificial breeding techniques and supplying equipment, including artificial nests, to interested customers.

There are around 100 species of swiftlets, only four of which build edible nests. Of them, only two can be raised in captivity – the aerodramus fucifagus and aerodramus germanicus.

The former fetches US$1,500-$1,800 per kilogram and the latter as much as $3,000.

A 100 sq.m “house‍ for the birds can yield 10 kg of nests per year if successful.

Hoang offered tips on how to build a successful house. Firstly, they must be situated near natural swiftlet habitats where the birds feel most ‘at home’.

Breeders must then discover the directions of the birds’ flight and put up the houses along those paths.

Small bells and other gadgets installed in the houses to produce artificial chirpings would attract the birds as would artificial nests.

Such a house would cost VND60-80 million each ($4,375). But owners need not worry about feeding the birds since they caught insects for their food. Their feces were not unpleasant either, Hoang added.

Doctor Elisa Nugroho, chairman of the Indonesian Association for Salangane Breeders, said the success rate was 95 percent if the house was located in the right place and appropriate technologies were used.

Hoang said the birds raised in this manner could build up to four nests per year while in natural habitats they did not build more than two.

City of Salangane

Eka has so far built or helped build 30 such houses. It is now considering constructing a “city‍ with 100 “houses‍ in the southern Tien Giang province’s Long Binh commune.

Natural and ecological conditions here were ideal for such a project, he said.

“In a few years, the number of birds here would have increased 10-fold,‍ Hoang estimated, hoping Vietnam would have a famous swiftlet city like Indonesia.

Swiftlet’s nests contain over 10 elements necessary for human blood production, relaxing the nervous system, and stimulating the production of eggs, sperms, and new cells.

Reported by Le Nga – Translated by Hoang Bao