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PRIMARY PRODUCTION
Many of the remaining farmers, often Cantonese or Chiu Chow immigrants, rent their land from the original owners, and this pattern is particularly marked among vegetable and poultry farmers in the Yuen Long and Fanling areas. Vegetable holdings are ex- tremely small, usually less than one acre.
Rents of rice land in the New Territories are customarily reckoned in rice itself. An average annual rent for two-crop rice land would be about 1,600 pounds of paddy an acre, or about 40 per cent of the total annual yield from two crops. Rents for vegetable land are, however, usually reckoned in cash. Rent for the very best vegetable land, with water supply and road access, would be about one-sixth of the annual crop value, but heavier costs of labour, fertilizers etc have to be taken into account. Leases for both types of land are generally for a period of 10 to 15 years, but rentals are often reassessed annually. Formal written leases are seldom entered into and the arrangements between landlord and tenant are often merely oral.
Crown land can also be cultivated on a temporary basis by means of a Crown land permit, and some quite large farms are held by this means. The permit is normally renewed from year to year until the land is required for permanent development. If at the end of 10 years it appears that the land will not be required, the permittee may apply to Government for the grant of a lease.
Natural topography largely decides the use which can be made of land in Hong Kong. From a farmer's viewpoint all the readily cultivable land is already being exploited and what is left, apart from land alienated to industrial and urban use, is marginal. Pressure comes on the land from two directions—the continued and steady demand for land for industry and housing, and the need to meet the growing needs of the rural community. It is important to remember that 81.4 per cent of the total area of the territory is marginal land, in differing degrees of sub-grade character. The arable land and fresh ponds already exploited comprise only 13.1 per cent of the total area and the expanding urban areas (the remaining 5.5 per cent) tend to encroach more directly on arable rather than on marginal land. It is necessary to preserve a proper balance between these conflicting needs and, where possible, land is reclaimed from the sea for industry, as at Tsuen Wan. On the other hand market towns such as Castle Peak, Yuen Long, Shek Wu Hui, Tai Po and