ENG-1975 — Page 80

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

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towns and residential areas on plans that provide for adequate open space, wider roads and public facilities of all kinds, inevitably means encroachment upon agricul- tural land. The losses, however, are partially offset by more intensive production and by development of marginal land. The New Territories Administration is responsible for land tenure and certain aspects of land development in the New Territories.

Approximate

area

Percentage of whole

Remarks

Class

(square miles)

Built-up (urban areas)

49.0

12.1

(ii) Woodlands

49.3

12.2

Includes roads and railways. Natural and established woodlands.

(iii) Grass and scrub lands

237.3

58.6

Natural grass and scrub, including

Plover Cove Reservoir.

(iv) Badlands

16.8

4.1

Stripped of cover. Granite country.

Capable of regeneration.

(v) Swamp and mangrove lands...

4.8

1.2

Capable of reclamation.

(vi) Arable ...

42.0

10.4

Includes orchards and market

gardens.

(vii) Fish ponds

5.6

1.4

=

Fresh and brackish water fish

farming.

Agricultural Industry

The government's policy is to foster the growth of the agricultural industry in Hong Kong to make the territory as self-sufficient in foodstuffs as possible, bearing in mind priorities in land utilisation and the economics of food production in the region.

Common crops are vegetables, flowers, rice, fruit and other field crops. The value of crop production has increased considerably from $89 million in 1963 to $283 million in 1975, a rise of 218 per cent. Vegetable production accounts for more than 87 per cent of the total value, having increased from $58 million in 1963 to $245 million in 1975.

Rice is the staple food of the southern Chinese. Two crops of rice a year can be grown on land where water is adequate. The normal yield from an acre of two-crop rice land is about two tons, or up to five tons with high fertiliser use and high yielding strains. The acreage of rice land has dropped from 23,353 acres in 1954 to 2,750 in 1975. Rice production continues to give way to intensive vegetable production, which gives a far higher return where there is adequate water and good road access.

The main vegetable crops are white cabbage, flowering cabbage, lettuce, Chinese kale, radish, watercress, leaf mustard, spring onion and chive. They grow all the year round, with the peak production period in the cooler months. Considerable quantities of water spinach, string bean, Chinese spinach, green cucumber and many other species of Chinese gourds are produced in summer, and a wide range of exotic temperate vegetables including tomato, sweet pepper, cabbage, celery, head lettuce, cauliflower and carrot are grown in winter. Straw mushroom is also produced, using industrial cotton waste as the growing medium. Among the common types of flowers, gladiolus and chrysanthemum grow all the year round; dahlia, rose, aster, snapdragon and carnation are grown in winter; and ginger lily and lotus flower in summer. A wide range of ornamental plants-including philodendron, dieffenbachia, bamboo palm.