Agricultural Development

Strong competition from imports, land and labour constraints, and
progressive implementation of environmental pollution controls, have
forced the agricultural sector to modernise its farming methods. The
department has been researching modern techniques suitable for
application in Hong Kong.

To increase the competitiveness and value of local produce, farmers are
encouraged to cultivate premium vegetables and to introduce good quality
breeding stocks of pigs and poultry. The department provides
infrastructural and financial support through low-interest loans to farmers
to enhance agricultural productivity and promote safe and environmentally
friendly production methods.

The department has implemented an Agricultural Land Rehabilitation
Scheme since 1988 to encourage utilisation of otherwise fallow
agricultural land for productive farming. The scheme effects
improvements in irrigation, drainage and farm road access. Assistance
including tenure arrangements, soil improvement and marketing facilities
is also available to interested farmers.

To better protect the environment and consumers against pesticide
residues, the department implements the Accredited Farm Scheme
together with the Vegetable Marketing Organisation, a self-financing
quasi-government body. Vegetable farms which adopt good agricultural
practices and use pesticides in accordance with a properly designed
pest-control programme are granted accreditation. They are subject to
regular inspection and their produce is closely monitored for pesticide
residues in the wholesale market by the organisation. Produce is
distributed from such accredited farms to designated retail outlets in
specially marked vegetable baskets. Since 1995, the scheme has been
extended to farms in the mainland supplying vegetables to Hong Kong.

Livestock farmers are required to install and operate waste treatment
systems to prevent pollution under the Livestock Keeping Licensing
Scheme. At the end of 1997, the department had issued 353 licences and
a further 397 licence applications were being processed. The department
has been promoting the pig-on-litter method which uses sawdust as
bedding material on which pigs are raised. The used sawdust is recycled
as soil conditioner or organic fertiliser for crop cultivation.

Poultry farming received a setback in the second quarter of 1997 when
three Hong Kong chicken farms were found to be infected with avian
influenza. In August, the disease affecting the farms was typed as H5N1
avian influenza. At about the same time, the H5N1 virus was isolated from
a young boy who had died in May 1997. Other human cases of avian
influenza were subsequently confirmed. In December, H5 avian influenza
was detected in another local chicken farm and in wholesale and retail
poultry markets in Hong Kong. In view of the confirmed presence of the
H5N1 avian influenza virus among poultry in Hong Kong and evidence
that the disease can be contracted by people, it was decided in December
that all chickens in local farms and all poultry at government wholesale
markets and retail outlets - some 1.5 million birds in all - should be
slaughtered to protect public health. The slaughtering operation started on
December 29 and was largely completed at the end of the year.

The Plant Varieties Protection Ordinance was brought into effect in 1997
to fulfil the obligations of the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights under the World Trade Organisation to protect
the rights of plant breeders. Varieties of different types of plants,
including fruit crops, vegetables and ornamentals as well as edible fungi
and algae, are all eligible for protection. It is envisaged that more new
varieties of crops with improved yields and qualities will be introduced to
farmers.

Besides technical support, the department administers three loan funds
which provide low-interest loans to the agricultural sector. They are the
Kadoorie Agricultural Aid Loan Fund, the J. E. Joseph Trust Fund and the
Vegetable Marketing Organisation Loan Fund. At the end of 1997, loans
issued since the inception of these funds reached $387 million.

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