ENG-1974 — Page 72

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

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lies fallow. The able-bodied members of these rural communities have moved to the city or overseas for better paid work. Meanwhile, vegetable production has continued to increase although at a slower rate. The skilled cultivator can maintain a good standard of living from a one-acre farm, and now uses many modern horticultural techniques such as sprinkler irrigation and mechanised cultivation to maintain a continuous succession of crops throughout the year.

Pig and poultry farmers are more directly affected by the level of prices of im- ported pork and poultry, and livestock numbers tend to fluctuate in accordance with price levels and profitability. All livestock food, apart from pig swill, is imported; and high world prices for livestock feed, which prevailed in 1974, has resulted in a cutback in total livestock numbers as certain marginal producers moved from farming to industry. A trend in the reverse direction occurred towards the end of the year when farm profitability improved and there was a threat of industrial recession.

Administration and Services

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The Agriculture and Fisheries Department provides a development information service to the primary industries. The details of new projects put forward are carefully considered, and those expected to prove both viable and in the interests of Hong Kong are actively encouraged.

Consumer demand and local primary production, within the context of world food production and supply, are investigated so that development planning can be undertaken. All available statistical data on production factors and food supplies, including imports, are collected and analysed to assist in the formulation of local production and marketing policies. Business efficiency of differing sectors and units within primary industries are studied to establish and up-date productivity standards, and to facilitate advice on their improvement. Forward projection studies of the anticipated market demands for foods are prepared. Those projections are then related to the local primary production capacity, both actual and potential. New food supply sources are also examined. Detailed surveys and studies are carried out on the distribution systems, and on the dynamics of the wholesale marketing of foodstuffs, so that long term development decisions, can be planned.

The department concerns itself with optimum land utilisation and provides tech- nical, extension and advisory services to farmers. It also deals with the economic, social and technological development of the Hong Kong fishing industry, and the administrative organisation and supervision of co-operative societies of all types, plus the supervision of credit unions. The conservation of water and soil through afforesta- tion of bare, eroded hillsides and catchment areas, is also an important aspect of the department's work. Afforestation is principally undertaken by the department and private afforestation is relatively unimportant. The New Territories Administration is responsible for land tenure and certain aspects of land development in the New Territories.

Research programmes of the department extend to and include crop and animal husbandry as well as fisheries. On government farms experiments continue into im- proving the quality and yield per acre of vegetables, flowers and fruits. The cultivation