ENG-1978 — Page 87

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Agricultural Industry

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The government's policy is to foster the development of the agricultural industry in Hong Kong, bearing in mind priorities in land usage and the economics of food production and supply in the region. Its objective is to ensure that the proportion of Hong Kong's food supply produced locally is maintained at a reasonable level.

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Common crops are vegetables, flowers, rice, fruit and other field crops. The value crop production has increased from $89 million in 1963 to $404 million in 1978 a rise of 354 per cent. Vegetable production accounts for more than 87 per cent of the total value, having increased from $58 million in 1963 to $354 million in 1978.

Rice is the staple food of the southern Chinese. Two crops of rice a year can be grown on land with adequate water. The normal yield from half a hectare of two-crop rice land is about two tonnes or up to five tonnes with higher fertiliser use and high- yielding strains. The amount of rice land has dropped from 9,450 hectares in 1954 to 110 hectares in 1978. 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, radishes, watercress, leaf mustard, spring onions and chives. They grow through- out the year, with peak production in the cooler months. Considerable quantities of water spinach, string beans, Chinese spinach, green cucumbers and many species of Chinese gourds are produced in summer. A wide range of exotic temperate vegeta- bles, including tomatoes, sweet peppers, cabbage, celery, head lettuce, cauliflower and carrots are grown in winter. Straw mushrooms also are produced, using industrial cotton waste as the growing medium. Among the common types of flowers, gladioli and chrysanthemums grow all the year round; dahlias, roses, asters, snapdragons and carnations in winter; and ginger lilies and lotus flowers in summer. A wide range of ornamental plants including philodendrons, dieffenbachia, bamboo palms and poinsettia are produced in commercial nurseries. Peach blossom and ornamental citrus are grown specially for the Lunar New Year. The area of land under vegetables and flowers has increased from 910 hectares in 1954 to 3,740 hectares in 1978.

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Various types of fruit are grown on the lower hill slopes. The principal crops are longan, lychees, wampei, tangerines, local lemons, bananas, guavas and pineapples. Land under orchards in 1954 totalled 390 hectares; by 1978 it was 510 hectares.

Other field crops such as sweet potatoes, taro, yams and sugar cane are cultivated in the remote and drier areas where water and transport facilities are inadequate for growing vegetables or rice. Some 90 hectares were under rain-fed crops in 1978, compared with 1,410 hectares in 1954.

In an effort to control the import and sale of potentially-dangerous agricultural pesticides, the Agricultural Pesticides Ordinance came into effect on July 15, 1977. This ordinance, which supersedes the Pharmacy and Poisons (Agricultural Poisons) Regulations 1970, requires the registration of all agricultural pesticides and the licensing of all dealers who import, repack, supply or sell agricultural pesticides. It also lays down conditions for storing, packaging and labelling agricultural pesticides. Because there is insufficient land for extensive grazing, pigs and poultry are the principal animals reared for food. Pigs in Hong Kong are mostly crosses of local