ENG-2005 — Page 235

Food Safety, Environmental Hygiene, Agriculture and Fisheries 193

also gave the 18 District Councils a total of $1.8 million to organise community cleansing activities and campaigns.

Primary Production

The agriculture and fisheries industries are relatively small sectors in Hong Kong. The Government does not give direct subsidies to them or attempt to protect them from the free operation of market forces. Instead, the AFCD focuses on helping the industries to improve the quality of their output and enhance their productivity and competitiveness.

During the year, the total production of the industries was valued at $3.012 billion. It accounted for 4 per cent of vegetables, 32 per cent of cut flowers, 22 per cent of live pigs, 52 per cent of live poultry, 6 per cent of freshwater fish and 26 per cent of seafood sold locally. Approximately 17 670 people were employed directly in the industries. The overall output of the local agriculture and fisheries industries has remained relatively stable over the past few years.

Agriculture Industry

Local agriculture is directed towards the production of high-quality, fresh food crops through intensive land use. Farming is largely undertaken in the New Territories and just 2 per cent of the land area is under cultivation. Overall, the most common crops cultivated are vegetables and cut flowers, and production was valued at about $264 million in 2005. Pigs and poultry are the principal animals reared for food and the value of locally produced pigs amounted to $554 million and that of poultry, including chickens and pigeons, to $360 million.

The local agriculture industry has to adapt rapidly to sustain long-term development which is affected by the limited supply of farm land and labour, competition from imports, higher environmental standards and calls for improved farm hygiene and safe produce.

The AFCD encourages crop farmers to target specific niche markets and enhance their competitiveness by cultivating safe, good quality vegetables. The department has cooperated with the local organic farming organisations and the Vegetable Marketing Organisation to promote organic farming and develop the market for organic vegetable. The department provides an organic farming support service to some 50 farms covering 25 hectares (ha) of land. The AFCD also promotes the use of greenhouse technology for intensive high-value crop production. During the year, two improved vegetable varieties suitable for local production rock melon and mini yellow watermelon were introduced to farmers for production.

The voluntary Accredited Farm Scheme operated by the AFCD and the Vegetable Marketing Organisation since 1994 aims to ensure the supply of high quality and safe vegetables. A total of 239 farms covering 1 593 ha of land have so far been accredited under the scheme. The organisation continues to use a 'Good Farmer' cartoon logo to promote accredited produce.