ENG-1989 — Page 138

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PRIMARY PRODUCTION

EVERY day in Hong Kong, people consume about 1 000 tonnes of rice, 1 100 tonnes of vegetables, 10 000 pigs, 500 head of cattle, 320 tonnes of poultry, 450 tonnes of fish and 1 300 tonnes of fruit. Much of this is imported, but Hong Kong farmers, working on a very small agricultural base, satisfy some of the demand by producing mainly high-value foods to cater to the local preference for fresh, rather than frozen or chilled, foods.

Only about eight per cent of the total land area is suitable for crop farming, and about two per cent of the work force is engaged in primary production - agriculture and fisheries.

In terms of quantity, local farmers produce about 34 per cent of fresh vegetables, 37 per cent of live poultry, 18 per cent of live pigs, and 13 per cent of freshwater fish. The fishing fleet of some 4 900 vessels supplies about 79 per cent of all live and fresh marine fish eaten.

Based on these figures, Hong Kong people, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, are among the world's highest consumers of protein.

The locally-produced foods are generally of a higher quality than the same type of imported foods and thus fetch higher prices in the markets.

Foodstuffs account for about 8.1 per cent of Hong Kong's imports from China. Local production, which complements rather than competes with imports, is aimed at main- taining some degree of self-sufficiency with respect to highly-perishable foodstuffs.

Agricultural Industry

Due to the limitation of land, agriculture in Hong Kong will continue to be directed towards the production of high quality fresh foods through intensive land use.

Common crops are vegetables and flowers although a small quantity of fruit and other yield crops is also grown. Rice production has given way to intensive vegetable production and has become insignificant. The area of land under vegetables and flowers was about 2230 hectares in 1989. The value of crop production was about $486 million. Vegetable and flower production accounted for about 74 per cent and 23 per cent of the total value and stood at $359 million and $112 million respectively.

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

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