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埋菜凍
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Primary Production
ALTHOUGH less than three per cent of Hong Kong's working population is involved in fishing and farming, they produce a considerable amount of the community's fresh food requirements such as vegetables, poultry, eggs, pigs and fish.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, Hong Kong is one of the world's highest consumers of protein per head of population, with every man, woman and child having an average daily protein intake of some 107 grams. Hong Kong's primary producers help to satisfy some of this demand, producing about 72 per cent of the total live chicken requirements and about 20 per cent of the live pigs slaughtered. Enough eggs are produced to make Hong Kong self-sufficient in eggs if it wished, with some 333,000 local birds and 27,500 hybrid birds being kept in breeding flocks in 1979. The territory's fishing fleet of some 5,400 vessels catches about 90 per cent of all fresh marine fish eaten and pond fish farmers produce about 16 per cent of the freshwater fish consumed.
In addition, farmers in the New Territories grow nearly 40 per cent of the vegetables consumed by Hong Kong residents. The agricultural industry remains buoyant even though a mere 9.5 per cent of Hong Kong's total land area is used for farming.
The gale-force winds and heavy rainfall brought by Typhoon Hope caused widespread losses within the primary industries in August. However, despite the damage caused, production was not severely affected in the long term. An Agriculture and Fisheries Department survey following the typhoon showed that some 1,170 hectares of vegetables, 140 hectares of flowers, more than 3,500 pots of flowers and plants, and 19,500 fruit trees were destroyed. An estimated 119,000 head of poultry and 3,000 pigs were killed. The Agriculture and Fisheries Department paid out $2.34 million in rehabilitation allowances to farmers who suffered losses and some $100,000 to the fishing industry.
Agriculture and Fisheries Department
The Agriculture and Fisheries Department encourages optimum land usage in Hong Kong's rural areas. It provides technical, development and advisory services to the farming and fishing industries. In addition, it handles the administrative organisation and super- vision of co-operative societies of all types and supervises credit unions. The department manages large areas of open countryside and is responsible for soil and water conservation, woodland management and landscape repair, as well as fire-fighting and the development of recreational services in country parks.
The Agriculture and Fisheries Department provides a development information service to the primary industries. Details of new projects put forward are carefully considered; those expected to prove both viable and in the interests of Hong Kong are encouraged.