XN000022-1974-03-02 — Page 3

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Saturday, March 2, 1974

KADOORIE AGRICULTURAL AID LOAN FUND

The Finance Committee has approved the extension for a further

five years of an interet-free loan of $500,000 to the Kadoorie Agricultural

Aid Loan Fund.

A spokesman for the Agriculture and Fisheries Department explained

that because of rising costs of farm equipment and feedingstuffs, the total

amount of money on loan to individual farmers rose from $1.8 million in

1968/69 to $3.2 million at the end of last year.

The purpose of the Kadoorie Agricultural Aid Loan Fund is to make

loans available to farmers at low interest rates for improving livestock,

developing land and fish ponds, and purchasing livestock feed, building

materials, soeds, fertilizers, pesticides, machinery, irrigation equipment,

and various other farm requirements.

The cost of farm production has beer on the increase in recent

years due to the rising costs of labour, feeds, fertilizers and veterinary

medicinos. Mechanization and new farming techniques are being adopted at

an increasing rate by the New Territories farmers in order to reduce labour

costs, but this requires considerable capital investment on equipment such

as rotary cultivators and sprinkler irrigation, which were almost unknown

here until introduced by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department six or

seven years ago,

The spokesman ever.