PRIMARY PRODUCTION
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at an estimated value of $3 million. The dairy cattle in Hong Kong are mainly Friesians and are kept in isolation on one large farm on Hong Kong Island and in smaller farm groups on the outskirts of Kowloon and in the New Territories. All dairy animals are regularly tested and must pass the single intradermal (comparative) test for tuberculosis. During 1963 there was a decrease in milk production and the estimated total production was about 12 million pounds of milk, valued at $1.10 a pound. This reduction was mainly due to the reduced stocking in consequence of the removal of 14 dairy farms formerly located in New Kowloon; the original sites are now used for resettlement housing.
The Colony continued to be free from rabies and rinderpest. The incidence of foot and mouth disease was not serious, though there were some 140 outbreaks of a mild type in both cattle and pigs. Some 12,300 cattle and pigs were inoculated against foot and mouth disease types ‘O' and 'A'. About 46,500 pigs were inoculated against swine fever and some 7,600 cattle were inoculated against rinderpest, with locally produced vaccine. In all 18,475,000 doses of Ranikhet vaccine and 2,013,000 doses of intranasal-drop vaccine were used for the prevention of Newcastle disease in poultry.
FORESTRY
The Agriculture and Forestry Department is responsible for forestry generally, and for the direct afforestation of water catch- ment areas, protection of vegetation on Crown lands, assistance to village forestry and amenity planting in catchment areas. A thick vegetative cover is essential to prevent silting of reservoirs and erosion and to help streams to flow more regularly by inducing as much water as possible to remain in the soil. Well-managed forests are an ideal way to achieve this. Elsewhere forestry can provide timber and fuel for local consumption and help improve rural economy.
It is only in recent years that any serious attempt has been made to carry out afforestation on a large scale and the landscape is now undergoing a noticeable change as plantations become established. Generally hills are predominantly grass covered, with a thicker cover of shrubs in some places and patches of scrub forest in remoter and less accessible areas. Thickly-wooded areas also occur where the vegetation has been protected against cutting