ENG-1965 — Page 96

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PRIMARY PRODUCTION

VEGETABLE MARKETING ORGANIZATION

Vegetables produced in the New Territories for sale in the urban areas are sold through a marketing scheme which was set up in 1946 on the lines of the successful fish marketing scheme. The present Vegetable Marketing Organization operates under the Agricultural Products (Marketing) Ordinance 1952, which provides for the appointment of a Director of Marketing (the Director, Agriculture and Fisheries Department) who is made a corporation sole with power to acquire and dispose of property and use the assets of the organization for the development and encouragement of vegetable farming. It provides also for a Marketing Advisory Board composed of unofficials to assist the organization. The controls imposed by the ordinance, however, apply only to the New Territories and Kowloon area, for there is little vegetable cultiva- tion on Hong Kong Island. ·

The organization has established depots in the main vegetable cultivation areas of the New Territories. From these depots, the majority of which are now operated by vegetable marketing co- operative societies, vegetables are collected daily by the organiza- tion's transport fleet and taken to the central wholesale market in Kowloon where two sales are held every day. The sales are con- ducted by the organization. A new wholesale vegetable market, constructed on a large reclaimed site in Cheung Sha Wan, was opened on 8th June by Mr Horace Kadoorie. The total construction cost was $2.9 million, of which $1.3 million came from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund. The balance was met from funds of the Vegetable Marketing Organization.

The organization is a non-profit-making concern and obtains its revenue from a 10 per cent commission on sales in the Cheung Sha Wan wholesale vegetable market. Vegetables are sold in the market by the organization but with considerable practical assist- ance given by the vegetable marketing co-operative societies which now handle 76 per cent of local production. Thirty per cent of this commission is therefore refunded to the marketing co-operative societies in recognition of the marketing responsibilities they assume in respect of their own produce. Sales are by negotiation rather than auction since up to 30,000 separate lots a day may be sold to nearly 3,000 buyers, making sales by auction impracticable.