In recent years, the industry of swiftlet farming has achieved continuous growth in Malaysia. In fact, Malaysia is the third largest edible-birdnest producer in the world, behind Indonesia and Thailand.

Currently, Malaysia’s annual production of edible-birdnest has recorded an impressive 135 metric tonne (MT), with total value of approximately 1 billion (in Ringgit Malaysia), exceeding the forecast of 8 metric tonne (MT) estimation under the Ninth Malaysian Plan (RM-9). Foreseeing the current rapid development of the industry in Malaysia and the continuous growth of the production volume, Malaysia has the potential to over take Thailand to be number 2, and reduce the gap with number 1, Indonesia in the world production of edible-birdnest.

Unofficial statistics has shown that there are currently 45,000 swiftlet houses in Malaysia, with over 80% of the houses located in urban or town area. With lots of swiftlet houses in urban, a lot of problems occurred, such as public’s complaints, health hazard problems, noise pollution, etc. Regular news of action taken by the local authority to eliminate illegal or non-compliant swiftlet farming activities in Malaysia has been commonly heard.

One of the first guidelines regarding swiftlet farming was released by the Department of Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry. It was entitled Good Animal Husbandry Guidelines in Good Animal Husbandry Practice for Edible-Nest Swiftlets Aerodemus species ranching and its Premise.

There are many problems to be addressed and solved. Besides handling complaints, swiftlet farmers have to follow the rules and regulations, namely apply for license(s) from local authorities where applicable, structural modifications which have to be certified by the relevant authorities, effort to reduce noise pollution, trade and export of edible-birdnest, etc.