By Ilyaskhan Pathan for TwoCircles.net,
Ahmedabad: Australian inhabitant Emu — flightless, human-sized bird — has set its foot in Gujarat. Emu farming is growing in India because of increasing demand for the bird’s meat and oil, which is believed to have medicinal properties, especially for treating joint pains.
Mr Neel Kamal Patel of Setu Emu breeding farm and hatcheries is a pioneer of farm breeding in Gujarat. He says the bird can adjust to the Gujarat climate. “The 1.5-metre high bird, which weighs approximately 60 kg, would have no problem adjusting to the dry regions of Gujarat and Rajasthan,” said Mr Patel.
Though Emu’s meat and oil are very expensive, setting up a farm is not a costly affair, said Mr. Patel.
Informing more about Emu, he said that an Emu bird couple will cost around Rs.14000 where as oil, extracted from its eggs, is sold at 900 US dollars a liter.
Emu is a pure vegetarian and eats 2 to 3 kg of variety of plants and insects, but it is known to have ability to go without food for weeks. The bird also consumes sand which provides calcium to him. Emus form breeding pairs during the winter months of December and January, and may remain together for about five months.
The oil, which is useful for producing medicines, is extracted from 750 kg heavy egg. Mr. Patel said, “Dark green colored egg is processed scientifically in machines till 54 days and after one and half year the baby Emu starts breeding eggs.