68
PRIMARY PRODUCTION
built-up areas comprise the remaining 16 per cent. The need to establish new towns and expand residential areas in the New Territories has resulted in an encroachment on agricultural land. The losses, however, have been partially offset by highly intensive farming. The City and New Territories Administration is responsible for land tenure and certain aspects of land development in the New Territories.
Class
(i) Urban built-up lands
Approximate area (square kilometres)
Percentage of whole
96
9.0
(ii)) Rural developed lands
74
7.0
(iii) Woodlands
125
(iv) Grass and scrub lands
624
(v) Badlands
222223
11.7 58.7
4.3
Remarks
Main urban area of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and six New Towns in the New Territories (Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Fanling/Shek Wu Hui, Tai Po and Sha Tin) including district open space (parks and gardens), but excluding all other non-built-up land.
Rural market towns and villages and other developed sites in the New Territories such as reservoirs, roads and railways etc. Natural and established woodlands. Natural grass and scrub, including those
within country parks.
Stripped of cover. Denuded granite country.
Capable of regeneration.
(vi) Swamp and mangrove lands
1
0.1
Coastal brackish swamp and mangrove.
(vii) Arable
80
7.5
(viii) Fish ponds
18
1.7
Cultivable land, including orchards, market gardens, under cultivation and fallow. Fresh and brackish water fish farming,
excluding coastal marine fish farms.
=
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 and other field crops. The value of crop production has increased from $89 million in 1963 to $555 million in 1981 – a rise of 524 per cent. Vegetable production accounts for more than 86 per cent of the total value, having increased from $58 million in 1963 to $478 million in 1981.
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 gourd 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; dehlias, roses, asters, snapdragons and carnations are produced in winter; and ginger lilies and lotus flowers 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 especially for the Lunar New Year. The area of land under vegetables and flowers increased from 910 hectares in 1954 to 4 970 hectares in 1976 but has since declined gradually to 2 630 hectares in 1981 mainly as a result of the development of new towns in the New Territories.