Flocks of ostriches may soon graze on the hills and fertile valleys of Turkmenistan together with flocks of sheep. Not far from Ashgabat, another 5-ha farm has appeared with the capacity to keep up to 3,000 African birds.
"Businesswoman Maysa Velmyradova now has about 500 ostriches; brought from Turkey," the Rysgal newspaper reports.
Local farmers have long noticed that ostriches, the meat of which is rich in micronutrients and proteins, and the quality of their skin is superior to that of crocodiles, are easily adapted to the climatic conditions of Turkmenistan.
In addition, ostrich meat has a shallow cholesterol content (32 mg per 100 grams), has a highly delicate taste, and is one of the leanest (fillet contains 1.2 % of fat).
The first ostrich farm in Turkmenistan was founded by Bayram Kekilyev in 1997 at the foot of the Kopetdag mountain. He first imported African chickens from Israel, then bought an incubator in Spain.
"They quickly took root because the climate of their homeland and Turkmenistan is similar in many ways," he says, adding that he has already sent his chicks for breeding to Azerbaijan, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine.
Currently, black African ostrich is bred in more than fifty countries, from South Africa to Sweden. Specialists say that their breeding has become a very profitable business. If an ostrich farm is established, a profit can be made after three years of breeding.
Credits: Eziz Boyarov, Ashgabat
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