Preliminary Studies on the Production of Guano and the Socioeconomics of Guano Collection in Niah Cave, Sarawak.
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
Preliminary Studies on the Production of Guano and the Socioeconomics of Guano Collection in Niah Cave, Sarawak. |
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Author :
Charles Leh and Leslie S. Hall |
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Abstract:
Guano is the term applied to the accumulation of droppings found under the roosts of swiftlets and bats in caves. Guano has long been used by the farmers in Sarawak as a source of fertiliser as it has a high content of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. In Sarawak, guano has been collected from Niah Cave since the arrival of domestic farmers who planted rubber and pepper. This probably occurred around the beginning of the 19th century (Harrisson, 1958). In the 1950’s, Tom Harrisson, the then Curator of the Sarawak Museum, established a system of licensing guano collectors. Pits, varying in depth from 3 to 29 feet deep, have been dug in the floor of Niah Cave by guano collectors. The deeper guano deposits contain a greater amount of phosphate. The collection of the old guano (tahi timbang) phosphate depositswas permitted with the issue of a Licence B. A fee of RM1.00 was collected for each Licence B, which was valid for only one working day. The guano collector, usuallya native of the Niah area, could dig into the old guano deposit and fill as many bags as they could carry in a day. Within a short period of less than 40 years, practically all of the old phosphate rich guano deposit of Niah Cave was removed. As a result deep guano collection was abolished in January 1985, resulting in protests from local longhouse communities. It was obvious that such a method of guano phosphate exploitation was harmful to the cave ecosystem. What remained of the damp and degraded guano deposits was often only bare rock and subsoil. This situation was regardedas unsatisfactory , as the animal life population supported by the guano deposits had greatly diminished. The invertebrates on the guano deposits (particularly moths) were part of a food chain which produced food for the swiftlets (Aerodramus maximus, A. vanikorensis and Collocalia esculenta), which in turn produced nests for the local bird nest industry (Cranbrook, 1984).
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Charles Leh and Leslie S. Hall. (1996). Preliminary Studies on the Production of Guano and the Socioeconomics of Guano Collection in Niah Cave, Sarawak. The Sarawak Museum Journal, L (71): 25-38 |
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