The Department of Animal Husbandry says that there are 12,000 breeding ostriches on 56 farms situated in 40 provinces and cities. In the central region alone, there are 16 farms that are raise 8,911 of the flightless birds for meat.

Three of the farms are large and supply breeding birds, meat, and eggs to both the local and export markets.

The country's largest ostrich farming company is Khanh Viet Corporation (Khatoco)in Khanh Hoa province. It began life as a tourism company. Following a pilot project to breed the world's largest birds, the director of the company found they adapted to the local weather and fetched big profits.

Khatoco then became a joint stock company farming ostriches. It breeds between 1,500 and 2,500 birds on its three farms and also has several processing plants.

Minh Hung Co Ltd in central Da Nang city has invested 100 million dong (VND; US$5,900) in building a 44-hectare farm where it has 3,000 farmers.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam said, however, that the industry also faces many difficulties. He said infrastructure and equipment remain outdated and that the scale of production is not large enough.

To improve ostrich-farming, not only farm owners but also experts and managers have to work together, he said. The industry should also co-operate with farmers to address the problems of labour and land. "Development a brand name for Vietnamese ostrich products is essential," he said.