Motion on “Empowering the development of agriculture and fisheries industries with new quality productive forces”
Deputy President, the agriculture and fisheries (“A&F”) industries in Hong Kong are facing various challenges, such as limited farmlands, the gradual depletion of marine resources, an ageing workforce and competition from imported products. The industries are facing disadvantages in achieving sustainable development. I would like to thank Mr Steven HO for proposing the motion and the three Members for proposing their amendments, so that we can discuss how to utilize new quality productive forces to promote the development of the industries.
The operation of the A&F industries in the Mainland has undergone radical changes in recent years. With the gradual enhancement of network infrastructure in rural areas, and the country’s policy support for empowering the production of the A&F industries with innovation and technology (“I&T”) on an ongoing basis, the A&F industries have been enable to enhance their mode of production and upgrade themselves.
On the agriculture front, as many colleagues have mentioned, technologies such as drone seeding and fertilization, soilless cultivation, remote sensing satellite and real-time data monitoring have become increasingly common. As for aquaculture, in addition to deep-sea net breeding, factory farming and captive breeding, smart seawater aquafarming bases have even been built on saline and alkaline ground in Xinjiang for cultivating high-quality seafood products such as groupers, abalones and lobsters. As proven by actual practice, the extensive application of technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence can materialize the deep transformation and upgrading of the A&F industries and promote the development of such primary industries towards a higher quality and greater sustainability.
The A&F industries currently account for only 0.1% of Hong Kong’s Gross Domestic Product. They mainly engage in the mode of small-scale and scattered operation and is void of an adequate level of modernization and intensification. With the increasing number of idled farmlands and fish ponds year after year, the development of the industry has remained stagnant. The Blueprint for the Sustainable Development of Agriculture and Fisheries published last year sets out corresponding work targets for the industries’ development in five areas. For capture fisheries, the aim is to assist fishermen in switching to aquaculture and leisure fisheries; for mariculture, pond fish culture, crop farming and livestock farming, the aim is to enhance the production, quality and value of local A&F products by adopting modernized operation modes. All these visions are worthy of the wait.
However, in order to promote the modernization, marketization and intelligentization of the A&F industries, nurturing a new type of all-rounded professional fishermen and farmers is an indispensable and important step. They must take a career path in the A&F industries, possess a certain degree of cultural and technological knowledge, and have a good grasp of the skills, experience and management abilities in modern agricultural production. Deputy President, we often see successful cases of entrepreneurship on Mainland television shows where graduates of prestigious universities return to their hometowns to grow crops or cultivate fish. To nurture such talents, science and technology education training centres have been set up for fishermen and farmers in various Mainland villages, offering specialized courses to cater for different needs with a part-time study mode. Such centres are run by universities and other operating entities, such as cooperatives and agricultural technology companies, providing not only classroom teaching but also opportunities for implementation, observation and drills.
The Government can draw reference from this training model in the Mainland and combine it with the actual situation in Hong Kong. It should focus on providing vocational training in farming and aquaculture for different groups of industry practitioners. It can also introduce regular training and exchange programmes with higher education institutions or A&F research bases in the Mainland, and invite technical personnel, new types of fishermen and farmers or students to come and interact with Hong Kong industry practitioners, and provide them with technical training and guidance, so as to expedite the training of new types of professional fishermen and farmers who can master relevant technologies, operations and management.
Closely related to the local natural ecology, A&F activities may also perform tourism and education functions. For instance, modern facility agriculture and smart agriculture have significant values for sightseeing and science education, offering fresh experiences of leisure farming and I&T education. Given that Hong Kong is a service-oriented economy, we can implement the concept of “tourism is everywhere in Hong Kong” by combining islands and countryside scenery, folk culture and farming experiences with the ecological environment, and develop ecotourism products consisting of farm-to-table dining, study tours on science education, leisure fisheries, and agricultural experiences to promote production switch in the A&F industries and their transformation. I believe this can facilitate the diversified and high-quality development of the A&F industries, and generate greater social, economic and environmental benefits for fishermen, farmers and rural villages.
Deputy President, I support Mr HO’s original motion and all the amendments. Thank you.