58
PRIMARY PRODUCTION
built-up areas comprise the remaining 15.7 per cent. The need to establish new towns and expand residential areas in the New Territories has resulted in an encroachment on agri- cultural land. The losses, however, have been partially offset by highly intensive farming. The New Territories Administration is responsible for land tenure and certain aspects of land development in the New Territories.
Approximate
area
(square
Class
kilometres)
Percentage of whole
(i) Built-up (urban areas)
166
15.7
Remarks
Includes roads and railways.
(ii) Woodlands
125
11.8
(iii) Grass and scrub lands
616
58.0
Natural and established woodlands. Natural grass and scrub, including
(iv) Badlands
44
4.1
(v) Swamp and mangrove lands
9
.9
(vi) Arable
83
7.8
(vii) Fish ponds
18
1.7
Plover Cove Reservoir.
Stripped of cover. Granite country.
Capable of regeneration.
Capable of reclamation.
Includes orchards and market gardens. Fresh and brackish water fish farming.
Agricultural Industry
The government's policy is to foster the development of the agricultural industry in Hong Kong, bearing in mind priorities in land usage and the economics of food production and supply in the region. Its objective is to ensure that the proportion of Hong Kong's food supply produced locally is maintained at a reasonable level.
Common crops are vegetables, flowers, fruit, rice and other field crops. The value of crop production has increased from $89 million in 1963 to $448 million in 1979 – a rise of 403 per cent. Vegetable production accounts for more than 89 per cent of the total value, having increased from $58 million in 1963 to $398 million in 1979.
The main vegetable crops are white cabbage, flowering cabbage, lettuce, Chinese kale, radishes, watercress, leaf mustard, spring onions and chives. They grow throughout the year, with peak production in the cooler months. Considerable quantities of water spinach, string beans, Chinese spinach, green cucumbers and many species of Chinese gourds are produced in summer. A wide range of exotic temperate vegetables including tomatoes, sweet peppers, cabbage, celery, head lettuce, cauliflower and carrots are grown in winter. Straw mushrooms also are produced, using industrial cotton waste as the growing medium. Among the common types of flowers, gladioli and chrysanthemums grow all the year round; dahlias, roses, asters, snapdragons and carnations are produced in winter; and ginger lilies and lotus flowers grow in summer. A wide range of ornamental plants - including philodendrons, dieffenbachia, bamboo palms and poinsettia – are produced in commercial nurseries. Peach blossom and ornamental citrus are grown specially for the Lunar New Year. The area of land under vegetables and flowers has increased from 910 hectares in 1954 to 3,490 hectares in 1979.
The amount of land used to cultivate rice has dropped from 9,450 hectares in 1954 to 40 hectares in 1979. Rice production has given way to intensive vegetable production, which gives a far higher return. Much former paddy land around the more remote villages has fallen into disuse and now lies fallow.
Various types of fruit are grown in Hong Kong. The principal crops are longan, lychees, wampei, tangerines, local lemons, bananas, guavas and pineapples. Land under orchards in 1954 totalled 390 hectares; by 1979 it was 570 hectares.
Other field crops such as sweet potatoes, taro, yams and sugar cane are cultivated in the remote and drier areas where water and transport facilities are inadequate for growing