Vermiculture Malaysia and Singapore

[wormtrade]

Hi fellow worm enthusiasts:

In Australia, I am involved with a major vermiculture
project that is part of a family farm in the Echuca-Moama
region of northern Victoria/southern NSW.

Over the past four years I have also been involved with a
vermiculture project in south-east Asia.

Two of the countries in south east Asia - Malaysia and Singapore -
now have fledgling vermiculture sectors. In Malaysia there are
several commercial scale producers of vermicast and worms.
I am also associated with a major eco-project in Malaysia which is
incorporating several different recycling methods, one of which is
vermiculture, into a comprehensive sustainable living concept.
In Singapore, there is now a retail shop which sells worms,
worm recycling equipment for household use, literature related
to household vermicomposting and composting, and so on. The
proprietor of the Singapore shop had earlier visited Australia
and had obtained advice from current or former members of the
AWGAVI. A former member of the AWGAVI had exported worms
to Singapore.

I am interested in getting to know other worm growers in Australia
or New Zealand who are already involved commercially with either
Malaysia or Singapore, or some other countries in south-east Asia.
I expect there will opportunities for people who are doing business
in that part of the world within our field, to learn from each other,
and to engage in cooperative ventures.

If you are interested, let me know.



Lawrence Huang
Wormtrade
email: lcy_huang@yahoo.co.uk

[George]

Hi Lawrence,

Yes, I would be interested in finding out more about what is happening throughout SE Asia in the vermiculture industry. I have heard many rumours, but no substantiated facts.

We have sold worms and eggs to many parts of the globe. The enquiries from SE Asia mainly seem to be for African Night Crawlers and/or Indian Blues. How do the tigers do in the tropics?

Regards,
George

[wormtrade]

Since 2000 AWGAVI had received interest in worms and vermiculture from many Asian countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, South Korea, and Japan.

Separately to this, India and the Philippines appear to have a fair amount of commercial activity within vermiculture already happening.

Several different worm breeders over the years had succeeded in exporting worms from Australia, probably in relatively small quantities. A few of those persons had at the time, been a member of the AWGAVI.

Not many of the aforementioned Asian countries had managed yet to properly establish the househould worm farming activities (for recycling purposes) which now accounts for a large part of retail worm sales in Australia.

In 2010, most of the attention of Singaporeans has been on the gaming sector, as the first ever legal casino recently opened on Sentosa Island, and another major casino resort is scheduled to open in a few months.

A point has been made about the unreliability of information to do with vermiculture in Asia. This is a key issue. Until such time as information can be verified, it is not wise to be too definitive.

All in all, vermiculture in south east Asia is happening relatively slowly, and is likely to be a long term exercise.



Lawrence Huang
Wormtrade
0412120398
email: lcy_huang@yahoo.co.uk