World Ostrich Association Newsletter No. 47 - Supplement

THE OSTRICH INDUSTRY IN TURKEY
By Asli Artvinli, DVM

Abstract
Ostrich production in Turkey has attracted a lot of interest until 2005 and has a background of 12 years. The first private ostrich farm in Turkey was established in the district Manavgat of Antalya using ostrich breeders and eggs imported from Israel. During the same year another attempt was made to establish an ostrich farm in the district Dalaman of Mugla using ostrich breeders and chicks imported from Austria (1). This attempt failed and a part of ostriches at this enterprise were sold to another private enterprise in Kaman, Kırsehir while the remaining part was brought to the Research and Application Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Uludag, Bursa, marking the start of the ostrich production project in the framework of collaboration between universities and the industry. These three ostrich farms constitute the basis of ostrich industry in Turkey (1).

Table 1. Regional distribution and the population of ostrich farming enterprises in Turkey.

Source: Ak and Cimik (2002)

Ostrich farming in our country is facing very important issues especially in organising, slaughtering, processing and marketing products. Therefore, the market of ostrich products in Turkey has not been set up yet (1). Most of the farmers have realised that it needs a long-term investment to obtain a satisfactory conclusion. Consequently, there has been a decrease in the number of large and small ostrich farmers in Turkey since 1995. The number was approximately 500 in its rapidly growing years; today’s number is only around 150.

Issues of Ostrich Farming in Turkey
Ostrich producing enterprises in Turkey are generally small family businesses (1). Areas of almost half of the farms are 10 thousand m2 or below. Percentage of enterprises with an area of 60 thousand m2 or more is only 12%. The small size of enterprises is an important factor affecting the opportunity to use various services and efficient operation (1).

It has been estimated that more than half of ostrich farms in Turkey have neither conducted any feasibility survey nor received any training on ostrich farming before establishment. Only 2% of ostrich enterprises have been estimated to have benefited from incentive during establishment (1).

An important part of ostrich farms should be defined more as hobby and recreation sites rather than commercial farms. Number of enterprises with 40 and more reproduction species is only 14% of the total number (1).

While 62% of ostrich farms operate as trios, 38% operate in the form of colonies. 53% of enterprises allocate insufficient area per a breeder, below 250 m2 (1). At almost half (40%) of enterprises’ egg yield per a female is below 40. Low reproduction characteristics of animals used for reproduction and failure to provide suitable environmental conditions for such animals leads to a considerably low egg yield at ostrich farms. Number of ostrich farms with 60 and more eggs per female is less than 10% of the total number (1).

Almost half of reproduction species at ostrich farms in Turkey are not numbered, no necessary records can be regularly kept (1). Although an important number of farmers stated that they kept efficiency records, such records are usually very general things related with farming and are not the type that would provide opportunity for breeders’ evaluation and selection (1).

¾ of ostrich farms in Turkey have been estimated to have incubators to place produced eggs for incubation themselves. Half of ostrich farms in Turkey report low fertility rate (below 60%) (1). According to the estimates, low characteristics of ostriches allocated for reproduction and failure to provide suitable environment conditions for such birds leads to low egg yield and fertility rate at ostrich farms (1).

The most important issues faced by ostrich farmers in Turkey can be listed as follows according to their importance (1):

Lack of interest toward organizing is observed among ostrich farmers. The only agency uniting ostrich farmers in the country is still the Foundation of Ostrich Farmers, which is legally incorporated in 2001, Bursa (1). There are 71 members of this foundation and 80% of these members are farmers. The main objectives of the Foundation of Ostrich Farmers are to provide solidarity among the ostrich farmers, to make any attempts throughout ostrich industry by preserving all the rights and benefits of the farmers, to enhance their knowledge by organizing congresses, conferences, panels or courses, and to promote domestic and foreign relations about the industry. There is also a knowledge about a cooperation established in the district Salihli of Manisa, which is supported by and works in the dependence of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

During the first years when the farming was yet newly started, important problems have been faced in slaughtering (1). Slaughtering of breeders outside slaughterhouse has led to important damage to the animal skin, at the same time creating a risk for meat consumers. By-products such as bones, fat, nails, etc. couldn’t be used when animals had been slaughtered out of slaughterhouse. There is only one ostrich slaughterhouse available in Kayseri, which performed contractual production and slaughtering at the moment (1). They had experienced problems in obtaining ostrich for slaughter. There is no knowledge about this slaughterhouse if it is still active or not. However, with the newly issued legal regulation, a first-class livestock slaughterhouse can be used for ostrich slaughtering. Furthermore, there is some important and hope-arising progress towards assessing ostrich products (such as meat, skin, egg and egg shell). However, absence of any organization in slaughtering and product processing is a setback for the development of this farming branch. Absence of an organization makes it more difficult to market its products (1).

Because ostrich farming is a new type of animal farming in our country, the number of researches conducted on this area is limited. Insufficient priority given to ostrich farming and ostrich diseases in training programs makes the number of specialists available on this subject very scarce (1).

Conclusion
Ostrich industry in Turkey may develop if the important problems such as organizing, supervision, health, care and nutrition, incubation, slaughtering, product processing and marketing are resolved urgently (1).

Reference
1. Ak, I. Karaman, S. Ostrich Breeding in Turkey: Problems and Opportunities. XII. World Ostrich Congress, 14-16 October 2005, Madrid. p: 341-346.