ENG-1962 — Page 136

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PRIMARY PRODUCTION

winter vegetables after the harvest of the second rice crop. Six to eight crops of vegetables are harvested annually from intensively cultivated land. The main crops are white cabbage, flowering cabbage, turnip, leaf mustard, Chinese kale, Chinese lettuce, tomato, water spinach, string bean, watercress and cucumber. Cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce and tomato are produced in great quantity during the cooler months and quality is excellent. This intensive production of vegetables takes place on both fertile and comparatively infertile land and is made possible by heavy dres- sings of manure. Nightsoil is used on about half of the area, but is being replaced or supplemented by pig and poultry manure, peanut cake, duck feathers, bone meal and compost. The use of artificial fertilizers is increasing, usually in addition to organic manures. Plant diseases are less important than insect pests and insecticides are very popular. The Agriculture and Forestry Depart- ment is paying increased attention to seed selection of local vege- tables, as well as to trials with winter vegetables grown from imported seed.

Sweet potatoes are grown both for human consumption (the tubers), and for pigfeed (the vines). Some 2,500 acres are double cropped on drier lands, chiefly for tubers; and a catch crop of sweet potatoes is also grown on 3,360 acres following the second paddy harvest. With an average yield of 4.3 tons an acre for each crop, and an average market price of $298 a ton, this represents an annual value of $10,713,000. About 2,129 acres of other field crops are cultivated such as peanuts, millets, soybeans and sugar- cane. They are grown mainly for local rural consumption. Fruit production is not yet substantial but is expanding and includes wampei (wong pei), lung ngan, lemon, orange, tangerine, Japanese apricot, guava, papaya, lychee and pineapple. Accurate statistics are not available, but approximately 35,000 piculs of assorted fruits, valued at over $3 million, were harvested during the year.

Crops and Fruits for export. A narrow range of fruits and crops is prepared for export to Chinese living overseas. Although the quantities exported are not large they make a useful source of income for the small farmer. The exports include water chestnuts, Japanese apricots, lemons, taro, bitter cucumbers, white cabbages, ginger, radishes, lychee, wampei, mushrooms, lotus roots, olives, turnips, yams and mustard. The area planted to these crops