ENG-1992 — Page 137

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PRIMARY PRODUCTION

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EVERY day in Hong Kong, people consume about 920 tonnes of rice, 1020 tonnes of vegetables, 8 060 pigs, 410 head of cattle, 280 tonnes of poultry, 550 tonnes of fish and 1 460 tonnes of fruit. 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.

Most of Hong Kong's food supplies are imported and China alone supplies about 49 per cent of Hong Kong's total requirements. Local production enables Hong Kong to maintain some degree of self-sufficiency and helps to stabilise the price and supply of fresh produce. In terms of quantity, local farmers and fishermen produce about 26 per cent of fresh vegetables, 27 per cent of live poultry, six per cent of live pigs, 12 per cent of freshwater fish and 63 per cent of all live and fresh marine fish consumed. Local produce is highly regarded in the marketplace for its freshness and quality and so tends to fetch higher prices.

While local agricultural and fisheries production plays an important role in supplying Hong Kong with fresh food, the government, as with other sectors of the economy, does not give direct subsidies to the primary industries or seek to protect them from the free operation of market forces. It does, however, provide infrastructural and technical support services to facilitate their development.

The Agriculture and Fisheries Department is the co-ordinator and main provider of these services, the purpose of which is to help the primary industries to increase their productivity and efficiency and take advantage of new market opportunities. The department studies the business efficiency of different sectors of the industries to establish and update productivity standards and identify areas for improvement.

Local production statistics are given at Appendix 22.

Agricultural Industry

In Hong Kong, only about eight per cent of the total land area is suitable for farming, so local agriculture is directed towards the production of high quality fresh foodstuffs through intensive land use.

The most common crops are vegetables and flowers although a small quantity of fruit and other high-yield field crops is also grown. The area of land under vegetable and flower cultivation was about 1 810 hectares in 1992. The value of crop production was about $442 million.