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The lucrative business of emu bird farming in Tamil Nadu that has
attracted huge investors has gone bust. Cases are registered
against farm owners for cheating a large number of investors in
commercial rearing of the emu birds. As a result, over
40,000 emu birds have been left starving.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has intervened into the
mater and has directed the police to take steps for attaching,
through courts, properties of companies that ran emu farms and
repaying the amounts invested by thousands of depositors.
Emu birds are imported from Australia and are members of the
ratite family of birds. They stand about 5 ft tall and are known
for their grunting and hissing sound. Emus have three forward
pointing toes; the underside of each is flat with a broad pad that
makes their legs strong for running.
Emu birds are very costly. Its eggs cost about Rs. 1200 to Rs.
1500 and meat sold for 500 rupees per kilo. Emus oil has
anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. It’s because of all
these attractions; emu farming is a lucrative business in Tamil
Nadu.
Even banks are offering loan and as a result, large number farms
have come up in this southern state of India. Companies such as
Susi Emu Farms, Asian Farms, Queen Farms, Alma Farms, Nidhi Farms,
all have well established businesses. Among them Susi Emu farms,
in erode Perundhurai, was the first to launch this business in
Tamil Nadu.
There are also contract farmers in this business who help grow
emus and return them during their breeding time. About 40 firms in
Perundurai and its surroundings are involved in the contract
farming, some companies even buy the grown up chicks.
There are many companies who have signed contract with the
investors offering them good returns on their investment.
Investors were lured into the business with the promise that emus
presented a good return. Many investors paid up to Rs 40,000 per
pair of emus, trusting that the bird's meat, egg, chick may give
good return to their investment.
Emus business was roaring as long as investors were getting good
returns. However, their hopes were dashed to ground when their
regular income stopped and some farm owners went missing. There
was panic all around and complaints of cheating started pouring in
against leading players in the emu farming business.
More than 3000 investors registered their complaints against
various emu farming companies, of which around 700 were against
Susi Emu Farms alone. The enormity of the complaint was such that
police had to rent a marriage hall and set up special counters to
receive complaints in Erode district. It also setup camps in each
district to receive complaints from the investors.
With owners of many emu farms going underground, hundreds of emu
birds were left abandoned and were pushed to the state of
starvation. Many died due to lack of food as suppliers stopped
supplies as companies owned them huge payments. Emus require
minimum of 750 grams of feed per day.
On coming to know about the plight of the birds, the district
administration of Erode made temporary arrangement to supply feed
to about 7,000 emu birds at Susi Emu Farms located there. However,
there was no commitment from any quarters about the maintenance of
abandoned birds in other farms.
With the emu bubble bursting, the questions were asked who will
take care of thousands of emu birds in the state. There are very
few takers for them in the local market and disposing them off
soon was not an easy option.
Thanks to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who
intervened into the matter and directed the police to attach
properties of companies that ran emu farms. She also asked the
Animal Husbandry Department to arrange feed and provide medical
care to the birds abandoned by the farm owners.
However, animal rights group were not satisfied and demanded a
complete ban on emu farming in the country. "People are being
duped and the birds are paying the price for it. We want complete
prohibition of emu farming to rule out more people and birds being
victimized in this failed business venture" said Arpan Sharma, CEO
of Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organization.
It remains to be seen whether Tamil Nadu story of emu bird farming
will provide lessons to other such framings in the country. The
lure to make quick bucks is driving many farmers to go for new and
unconventional methods of farming. If such businesses fail, its
nightmare for them and the issue thus becomes part of the jigsaw
puzzle that’s related farmer’s suicide in India.
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be
contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
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