Although swiftlet activities can be seen almost everywhere in Malaysia and in theory swiftlet farm can be built in a lot of places, however I still think that finding a suitable location indeed is not an easy task.
I will focus on agricultural land in this post. In fact when I have decided to venture this field years ago I had decided to set up my first BH on agricultural land despite the draw backs:
1) Upfront capital will be a lot more higher. In addition the finance available for the agricultural & BH construction is quite limited and the borrowing margin is relatively low compared to commercial property. Alternatively you can refinance your property be it residential or commercial. (personally I prefer residential property for lower interest rate and longer/ lower monthly repayment.)
2) Finding the right land, right size with right price. Developing a swiftlet farm doesn't require a lot of space (BH itself) but sometimes it is not easy to find 1-2 acre land in a reasonable price as they tent to fatch higher price per acre due to the demand on those land size is high. Having more than few acres will certainly increase your upfront capital unless you are financially capable and reserve them for future BH development (if your existing BH can do well).
3) Even if one managed to find a reasonable size land, what about the electrical, water and road access? Does the site require extensive site work before the BH construction can begin? If so, one need to allow provision sum for that purpose.
4) Most importantly, is there any swiftlet activities around? Is there enough food source around the land (approx. within 25-40km in radius)? Bird call test will be required. I often preferred to observe the sky first before conducting any bird call test (using pulling sound before stress sound) and see if there is any sign of swiftlet activities around. I will cover this in more detail in my later post.
5) Security issue, be it natural predators or burglars.
6) Slower swiftlet population grown up rate in the begining (well i treat it as opportunity in long run)
The advantages of having BH on agricultural land:
1) Land is precious as we can't grow land.
2) Relatively easier to comply to local council swiftlet farming regulation. Less licensing problem in future.
3) Neighbour disturbance is minimum or none.
3) Natural vegetations around the land does provide food sources for swiftlets.
4) Extra land can be utilised i.e plant some veges or fruit trees or even a fish pond and become your weekend retreat. This will also become swiftlet play/ feeding ground as well as they will just fly above the pond for water and insects especially during the evening before they go "home".
To be continue......
