A Myanmar town rakes in millions by letting out buildings to swiftlets

Though he says he’s just turned 43, Htway Cho’s full head of snow-white hair and wrinkled, weather-beaten face suggest otherwise. He’s not surprised when I tell him — rather impolitely, I suppose — that he looks at least 20 years older. “This is what 20 years of climbing cliffs will do to you,” Cho smiles, revealing a set of orange, betel nut-stained teeth.

My guide Cho, like hundreds of other men — and even a few women — of the sleepy, seaside town of Bokpyin in Myanmar’s southern peninsular Tanintharyi region, is a bird-nest harvester. Until nine years ago, he would risk life and limb scaling the treacherous cliffs of islands such as Kuant Ngar and Yay Aye that are part of the region’s Myeik archipelago. All this was in pursuit of one of the most elusive, and thus expensive, animal products consumed by humans — a cache of pearly-white nests made from the dried-up saliva produced by the male white-nest swiftlet. The nest is said to have tremendous health and beauty benefits when consumed as soup.

These days, however, the scene couldn’t be more different for Cho and the others. Exports have surged ever since the former military junta-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited, or UMEHL, that the harvesters worked for, gave up its monopoly over the harvest of the nests in 2011. And to keep up with the demand for the dried nests — a kilogram can sell for $1,300 in the Chinese market — the canny residents of Bokpyin came up with an ingenious idea.

Swift and smart

“We realised that we didn’t need to go out to the swiftlets. Rather, let them come to us,” says Cho. This ‘eureka’ moment came to the townsfolk when, a few years ago, they noticed a flock of swiftlets had taken over an old and abandoned house, where hundreds of nests were found. Soon, there were dozens of such buildings — some even purpose-built and multi-storeyed — that were ‘let out’ to the swiftlets. “We started adding floors to our existing buildings to accommodate the birds, who come to roost at dusk daily. We collect the nests three to four times a year. But only after the hatchlings have matured and flown away,” Cho is quick to add. Protests against the bird nest soup in many Asian countries are not unheard of. A drop in the number of the swiftlets raised concerns on the harvesting methods for the nests.

Today, there are at least 150 such grey, concrete swiftlet tenements scattered across the town. Land prices in Bokpyin have skyrocketed to unprecedented highs due to this phenomenon. A plot in downtown Bokpyin, for instance, can sell for $77,000, which is what one would expect to pay in some parts of the country’s commercial capital, Yangon.

So successful has been this ‘swiftlet in situ’ model that it is not only being replicated by other towns in Myanmar such as Kawthaung, but also in neighbouring southern Thailand, where the Pak Phanang district of the Nakhon Si Thammarat province is fast becoming another hub for nesting houses.

Homecoming

Walking through the nondescript town that was once Myanmar’s leading producer of betel nut, rubber and palm oil one late afternoon, all my senses were at once made aware of the town’s newest residents. It was not just the overwhelming avian odour that hit my nostrils, but also the sight of thousands of birds circling overhead that was enough to make me feel like I was in Myanmar’s remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 classic The Birds .

However, it was another of my senses that was most affected. Suddenly Bokpyin’s traffic din was all but silenced with a unique mixture of assorted bird sounds — twittering to chirping, even the occasional cawing. It turned out to be emanating from the speakers and boom boxes installed in the nesting homes in a bid to attract more winged tenants.

“What about the bird droppings? Isn’t that a nuisance?” I question Cho in all my urban insouciance. “Simple. Once a week we collect all of it to sell as manure,” he replies matter-of-factly.

Once again, Bokpyin’s ingenuity comes to the fore!

Raul Dias is a food and travel writer based in Mumbai

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