ENG-1961 — Page 123

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PRIMARY PRODUCTION

fertilizers without any prejudice to the traditional nightsoil. A striking aspect of market gardening in Hong Kong is the wide- spread use of small knapsack sprayers and the most modern in- secticides. The steady expansion of primary production over the past three years is shown in Appendix V, which also indicates that in 1961 livestock production accounted for 48%; crop produc- tion 27% and marine fisheries and associated products the remain- ing 25% of the total.

AGRICULTURE

Since 1954 the area of land under two-crop paddy has fallen from 20,191 to 16,796 acres, the balance being used for permanent vegetable and field crop production. 2,905 acres are also used for one-crop paddy in brackish water and 127 acres for one-crop upland paddy. Taking the average milling percentage to be 68, the estimated crop in 1961 was 20,326 metric tons of rice, and at an average price of $60 per picul, the money value was $20,159,000. In a normal year, the average yield of paddy from an acre of two- crop land is about 1.2 metric tons, but with seed of approved varieties, good irrigation and the use of fertilizers, production_may reach 1.8 metric tons on average land and over 2 metric tons on better soils.

The most important disease of paddy is Blast, caused by the fungus Piricularia Oryzae, and farmers are making more use of blast-resistant varieties recommended by the Agriculture and Forestry Department. The Department also selects seed within varieties, but the amount of such improved seed available is limited. Traditionally the manurial treatment of rice is to add only very small dressings of dry animal manure, but the use of balanced artificial fertilizers is becoming increasingly important.

The area of land under permanent vegetable cultivation has steadily increased from 2,254 acres in 1954 to 6,172 acres in 1961. This increase comes mainly from the transition of 3,395 acres of rice land to vegetable production, and the development of 523 acres of marginal land. In addition some 1,200 acres of two-crop paddy land (that is, land which can be irrigated during the driest weather and has good access to markets) are also used for cultivating winter vegetables after the harvest of the second rice crop.