Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Report

INTRODUCTION TO THE AGRICULTURE AND ADMINISTRATION BRANCH

The objectives of the branch are:

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To provide basic agricultural infrastructure and technical support for the development of modern, efficient and environmental-friendly farming;
To ensure adequate provision and efficient operation of government wholesale marketing facilities for fresh food produce;
To supervise credit unions and co-operatives, regulating these bodies through audit and examination of their accounts;
To provide general and personnel administrative support to the Department; and
To assist advisory statutory boards and committees that advise the Department in formulating and executing related policies.

STATE OF THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY

Agriculture in Hong Kong is undertaken mostly in the urban fringes. Only 19 square kilometres of the territory's 1,103 square-kilometre land area are currently farmed. About 4,900 farmers, or 0.14 per cent of the territory's total work force, are engaged in agriculture.

The local agricultural industry is involved in producing quality fresh food through intensive land use and modern farming practices. Despite its relatively small size, the industry produces a substantial amount of vegetables, poultry and pigs for daily fresh food consumption. Local agricultural production in the years 2003 and 2004 were valued at about $1.05 and $1.12 billion respectively. Statistics on agricultural production, fresh foodstuff consumption and agricultural land utilisation are shown in Appendices 1 to 3.

Vegetable crops grown all year round include white cabbage, flowering cabbage, lettuce and celtuce. Long bean, water spinach, Chinese spinach, cucumber and several species of Chinese gourd are produced in summer. Spinach, watercress, Chinese kale and matrimony vine are grown in the cooler months.

Flower cultivation has gained importance in recent years. Orchids and ornamental plants are grown all year round; dahlia, chrysanthemum, lily and gladiolus in winter; and ginger lily, lotus flower and sunflower in summer. Peach blossoms are grown for the Lunar New Year.

PREMIUM VEGETABLES

The Department continues promoting the cultivation of premium vegetables to explore available niche markets with a view toward helping farmers gain better economic returns. Two hot season crops, Jade Chinese Kale and golden sweet corn, both of which can withstand high temperatures and rainy weather, were introduced for production in summer. Two cool season crops, namely, strawberry and a special broccoli cultivar which has a good shaped head with fine beads, were also introduced to support all-year high value production.

AGRICULTURAL STRUCTURES

Greenhouse
Controlled-environment greenhouses are built with transparent plastic film or polycarbonate sheets to provide an enclosed environment enabling artificial regulation of temperature, humidity and intensity of light inside for optimal production of crops. Advanced greenhouses are often equipped with automatic irrigation, fertilisation and/or spraying systems to further increase productivity.

The Department has adapted the technology under local conditions and introduced it through seminars and demonstrations to farmers for intensive production of high-value crops such as white bitter cucumbers, rock melons and lilies. Newsletters were published regularly to keep farmers updated with the latest developments. An electronic version was also made available via the Department's web site.

Letter of Approval
Under the terms and conditions of land grant, a farmer who wishes to build agricultural structures (greenhouses, livestock sheds, hatcheries, fish ponds, or storerooms) on leasehold agricultural land must apply to the Lands Department for a Letter of Approval for Agricultural Structures. To facilitate application by farmers, AFCD has streamlined the procedures with the Lands Department and took up the responsibility of assessing such applications. During 2003-2005, the Department successfully helped five farmers secure the necessary approvals.

SUPPORT AND EXTENSION

Agricultural Support Services
The Department promotes the return of fallow land not earmarked for development to cultivation by helping farmers arrange land tenancies, improving soil conditions, and providing marketing facilities and farm road access. From 2003 to 2005, 16.12 hectares of such rehabilitated agricultural land were serviced. The Department responded to 9,135 technical inquiries related to agricultural production or development and conducted 704 field investigations in connection with irrigation and other agricultural matters.

Agricultural Credit
The Department operates the Kadoorie Agricultural Aid Loan Fund, the J.E. Joseph Trust Fund and the Vegetable Marketing Organisation Loan Fund to meet the credit needs of farmers. A total of $47.411 million was lent to farmers during 2003 to 2005, including 153 loans totalling $8.086 million to crop farmers; 314 loans ($28.47 million) to livestock farmers; 21 loans ($1.39 million) to pond fish farmers; 80 loans ($7.325 million) to mariculturalists and 14 loans ($2.14 million) to agricultural co-operative societies.

Emergency Relief Operation
Emergency relief grants are issued to needy farmers who suffer from natural disasters. Grants totalling $1,975,239 were distributed to 687 farmers during the 2003 to 2005 period.

FRESH FOOD WHOLESALE MARKETS

The Department manages four government-built wholesale food markets which provide some 2,600 trading stalls and related ancillary facilities. Together these markets provided some 38 per cent of the fresh food commodities (vegetable, freshwater fish, eggs, fruits and live poultry) consumed by the community. Appendix 15 provides details of throughput in these wholesale markets.

In managing these facilities, the Department is committed to saving costs through productivity improvement and streamlining while passing these savings to market tenants as rent reduction. As a result, rent for the two largest market complexes was reduced by 9.4 per cent with effect from 1 April 2004.