ENG-1983 — Page 104

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Agricultural Industry

67

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.

Common crops are vegetables, flowers, fruit and other field crops. The value of crop production has increased from $93 million in 1963 to $636 million in 1983 - a rise of $684 per cent. Vegetable production accounts for more than 83 per cent of the total value, having increased from $64 million in 1963 to $531 million in 1983.

The main vegetable crops are white cabbage, flowering cabbage, lettuce, Chinese kale, radishes, watercress, leaf mustard, spring onions and chives. They grow throughout the year, with peak production in the cooler months. Water spinach, string beans, Chinese spinach, green cucumbers and many species of Chinese gourd are produced in summer. A wide range of exotic temperate vegetables including tomatoes, sweet peppers, cabbage, celery, head lettuce, cauliflower and carrots is grown in winter. Straw mushrooms are also produced, using industrial cotton waste as the growing medium.

Among the common types of flowers, gladioli and chrysanthemums grow throughout the year; dahlias, roses, asters, snapdragons and carnations are produced in winter; and ginger lilies and lotus flowers in summer. A wide range of ornamental plants - including philodendrons, dieffenbachia, bamboo palms and poinsettia - is produced in commercial nurseries. Peach blossom and ornamental citrus are grown especially for the Lunar New Year. The area of land under vegetables and flowers increased from 910 hectares in 1954 to 4 970 hectares in 1976 but has since declined gradually to 2 840 hectares in 1983 mainly as a result of the development of new towns in the New Territories.

The amount of land used to cultivate rice has dropped from 9 450 hectares in 1954 to less than 10 hectares in 1983. Rice production has given way to intensive vegetable production, which gives a far higher return. Much former paddy land around the more remote villages has fallen into disuse and now lies fallow.

Various types of fruit are grown in Hong Kong. The principal crops are longan, lychees, wampei, tangerines, local lemons, bananas, guavas and pineapples. Land under orchards in 1954 totalled 390 hectares; by 1983 it was 660 hectares.

Other field crops such as sweet potatoes, taro, yams and sugar cane are cultivated on a small scale in the remote and drier areas where water and transport facilities are inadequate for growing vegetables. Some 60 hectares were under rain-fed crops in 1983 compared with 1 410 hectares in 1954.

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 animals with exotic stock as pure strains of the Chinese type are difficult to find. The value of locally-produced pigs killed in 1983 amounted to $235 million.

The annual production value of poultry – including ducks, pigeons and quail – amounted to $591 million. Local chicken production decreased by 13 per cent to about 16 million birds, representing 60 per cent of total consumption. In July, as a result of public concern over the possible health hazard arising from the use of synthetic hormone as a growth stimulant in the chicken industry, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board deregistered for veterinary use pharmaceutical products which contained stilbene derivatives, thereby making the sale and import of such products illegal. In response to this new situation, the chicken industry has had to go through a period of structural adjustment. To assist this process, the Agriculture and Fisheries Department conducted intensive training