ENG-2015 — Page 202

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Food Safety, Environmental Hygiene, Agriculture and Fisheries

The AFCD encourages crop farmers to tap niche markets and sharpen their competitiveness by cultivating safe and good-quality vegetables. To promote organic farming, the department provides an organic farming support service to 270 farms located on about 99.6 hectares of land. It also promotes the use of greenhouse technology for intensive high-value crop production. During 2015, three improved varieties of vegetable and fruit, namely, the yellow flesh watermelon, lettuce and cauliflower of various colours, were introduced to farmers for cultivation.

The AFCD and the Vegetable Marketing Organisation (VMO) have managed the voluntary Accredited Farm Scheme since 1994 with the aim of providing a stable supply of high-quality and safe vegetables. As at the end of 2015, 308 farms in Hong Kong, Guangdong Province and Ningxia Autonomous Region, spreading over 2,989 hectares of land, have been accredited under the scheme.

Leisure farms have become popular places for recreation in recent years. The department, in collaboration with the local agricultural sector, provides information on the territory's leisure farms through its annual publication, A Guide to Hong Kong Leisure Farms, and its mobile application, Hong Kong Leisure Farms.

Between December 2014 and March 2015, the government conducted a public consultation exercise inviting views on adopting a more proactive approach towards the modernisation and sustainable development of local agriculture. The public views received indicated wide support for the new agriculture policy and the package of supportive measures that the government had proposed. The government has since proceeded to map out the way forward, taking into account the views received.

Fisheries Industry

Fresh fish is one of Hong Kong's most important primary products. In 2015, fish caught and fish. reared in ponds and floating cages at sea amounted to about 148,600 tonnes with a value of $2.5 billion.

Hong Kong's fishing fleet consists of some 5,050 vessels, manned by about 10,500 local fishermen and some 4,400 Mainland deckhands. These include larger vessels operating mainly in the South China Sea, and smaller vessels in local waters. The total catch in 2015 weighed 145,193 tonnes and had an estimated wholesale value of $2.34 billion. The industry provided some 62,000 tonnes of fish for local consumption during 2015.

Licensed by the AFCD, 969 mariculturists operate in 26 designated fish culture zones, supplying consumers with 1,219 tonnes of live marine fish in 2015 valued at $105 million.

Freshwater and brackish water fish are reared in fish ponds located mainly in the northwestern New Territories. In 2015, pond fish culture yielded some 2,100 tonnes of fish, or 2 per cent of local freshwater fish consumption.

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