Ostrich meat was supposed to be a 'gold mine' for farmers in Pakistan. The industry collapsed just as it was taking off.

• The ostrich meat industry is experiencing setbacks in Pakistan just as it was beginning to take off.
• Ostrich meat is more profitable than meat from other livestock, making it an attractive option for farmers.
• But Pakistani ostrich farmers are having trouble paying off their initial investments after a government subsidy program expired recently.

Ostrich meat may seem foreign to American taste buds, but it's a common delicacy in parts of Africa, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Now, Pakistan is trying to break into the market — but the industry is experiencing setbacks just as it was taking off, leaving a small group of farmers to keep it alive.

In 2016, the Pakistani government began a project to kick-start the ostrich industry there, offering subsidies to ostrich farmers. Soon, the number of ostrich farms in the country rose from about 60 to 400. Some observers called the industry a "gold mine."

But in 2018, the subsidy program expired when the government declined to renew it.

Many of those farmers haven't been able to pay off their initial investments.

"This business is more profitable than other livestock, but the farmer needs a lot of patience," Raja Tahir Latif, an ostrich farmer who consulted on the government program, said.

Compared to cows, ostriches have a higher profit margin: They mature faster, produce more young, and they live longer.

"If you have good egg, it takes 42 days from egg to chick," Latif said. "So if you have good [breeding birds], good feed, good management, then you have good result."

It costs about $100 to raise a chick to slaughter weight. And the meat alone can sell for about $3 a pound. Meanwhile, beef sells for a little more than $2 a pound, which leaves farmers like Latif hopeful that these birds can compete with other kinds of livestock.

In Pakistan, you can find ostrich in some restaurants, but only a few grocery stores. Many still view it as an expensive delicacy, but Latif thinks there's a few reasons it could still catch on.

For one, Pakistan's climate is ideal for raising ostriches. And in local tradition, meat isn't typically sold on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with the exception of poultry.

Ostrich meat is also halal, and has a similar taste to lean beef, mutton or deer. The birds just need to find an audience.

"Trying something for the first time is scary because you don't know what it's going to be like," Lahore resident Mahnoor Shakoor said while eating at the Tandoori Sajji restaurant. "But these guys have done a brilliant job on it."

Latif says he and the remaining Pakistani ostrich farmers need to hold out for just a little longer until more people get a chance to try it and global trade recovers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I hope that there will be good policies in the future ostrich farming, but one thing that is established — this is a feasible livestock in Pakistan," he said. "After a few years, ostrich farming will be a mainstream livestock farming in Pakistan, inshallah.