PRIMARY PRODUCTION AND MARKETING
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dams, numerous irrigation channels totalling 21,120 feet in length, and 15 small reservoirs. In the same period repairs were effected to 18 wells and 11 diversion dams.
The Kadoorie Agricultural Aid Association has also helped with the construction of roads, paths and bridges. Gifts of cement and other building materials (and in some cases where the work is beyond the competence of village groups, the employment of skilled labour) have enabled village communities to construct or repair 211,200 feet of village paths and roads, 10 piers, 11 bunds for flood control, 7,165 feet of drains, 33 bridges, 8 sea-walls and 2 culverts. In 1958, 44,997 bags of cement were given for these and similar projects.
The Association has also assisted during periods of drought by pumping water for nurseries, the pumping units being operated by the Agricultural Division. It has also provided village groups with 200 Japanese Rice Threshers and 400 Japanese Knapsack Sprayers for pest control, and made gifts, for example, of cattle, goats, pigsties, pigs, poultry, farm buildings, and free livestock inoculations to the poorer members of the farming community. A new scheme of livestock improvement which commenced_this year is described below under Animal Industries.
The most significant change resulting from these efforts is that although rice is still the major crop and is efficiently cultivated, it does not occupy the same dominant position in the thinking of the farmer. There is a greater tendency to diversify agriculture and, on the average, about 35% of fallow rice land following the harvest of the second rice crop is used for catch-cropping. Orchards are being established where land is available and more small livestock are being raised in association with rice and vegetable cultivation. Farmers are using more and more artificial fertilizers to enhance their production and more insecticides to control pests and diseases.
The formal training classes for young farmers in practical crop and animal husbandry which were started in 1957 were con- siderably increased in 1958. Agricultural education is now the responsibility of one senior officer of the Department, and during 1958 a total of thirty six students was trained at Castle Peak and Ta Kwo Ling Agricultural Stations in courses arranged by