Press Releases
Voluntary surrender of pig farm licences proposed
The Government announced today (April 4) a proposed incentive scheme for pig
farmers who choose to surrender their licences voluntarily and cease pig farming
activities permanently in Hong Kong.
A spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said the main purpose of the
scheme was to reduce the number of pig farms in Hong Kong thereby reducing
associated public health and environmental pollution problems.
At present, there are 265 pig farms in Hong Kong rearing about 330,000 pigs,
which supply about 20% of the local fresh pork market. Most of these farms are
located in northern New Territories.
"Pig farming activities generate considerable public health and environmental
pollution problems that are difficult to overcome and we need to consider
whether the sustainable development of livestock farming can ever be
realistically achieved. With the rapid urbanisation of Hong Kong and heightened
community concern about public health and environmental issues, we consider it
appropriate that the number of pig farms should be gradually reduced.
"This can be achieved by stopping the issue of new licences for pig farming and
by reducing the rearing capacity of existing farms. In parallel, the
Administration should also tighten the existing licensing framework to ensure
compliance with the licensing conditions. Under such circumstances, it is
appropriate to introduce a voluntary surrender scheme for those who do not wish
to remain in the trade.
"During past discussions with pig farmers, it appeared that many were prepared
to surrender their licences for a reasonable package. In this regard, we have so
far received over 190 written submissions, representing nearly half of all pig
farms, urging the early launch of the scheme," the spokesman said.
Under the incentive package, which amounts to a total expenditure of $941.7
million, ex-gratia payment (EGP) will be provided to pig farm licencees who
choose to surrender their licences and to cease pig farming permanently.
The EGP calculation will broadly follow the current formulae for calculating ex-gratia
allowances for pig farms affected by land resumption and clearance for public
work projects, as approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council.
There are two major components in the formulation of the EGP, namely the EGP for
farm operation and EGP for farm buildings, such as pig sheds and agricultural
stores.
"To encourage smaller pig farms to close down and surrender their licences, we
propose to set a minimum EGP payable to pig farmers and to include an element
that takes into account the number of pigs raised by individual farms. Under the
proposed arrangement, the minimum EGP the pig farmers can get is $450,000 while
the highest is $25.45 million.
"As the 'Wet-Muck-Out' (WMO) facilities is a capital-intensive environmental
protection facility in many pig farms, the Administration has also decided to
include an additional EGP factor taking into account the farmers' capital
investment in WMO facilities after deducting the capital grant provided by the
Administration to the pig farmers to set up the WMO to control pollution back in
the 1990s. Only pig farms with WMO facilities would be eligible for this EGP
component," the spokesman said.
The scheme also provides an $18,000 one-off grant for each affected local pig
farm worker and live pig transport worker to ease their immediate financial
needs.
A loan of $50,000 will be provided to each transporter who has been transporting
live pigs from local pig farms to slaughterhouses to upgrade/convert their
vehicles for other business opportunities.
In response to concerns about pork supply in Hong Kong, the spokesman explained
that although the number of live pigs produced by local farms would shrink, the
number of live pigs imported from the Mainland would increase to fill the gap,
depending on market demand.
"As a corollary to the introduction of a voluntary surrender scheme for pig farm
licences, the Government also proposed to introduce legislation to stop the
issue of new pig farm licences to gradually reduce environmental pollution and
public health problems that were caused by the existing pig farming activities.
Meanwhile, the Administration would freeze the rearing capacity of those pig
farms that choose not to join the scheme.
"Subject to funding approval from the Legislative Council's Finance Committee,
the Government plans to invite applications from pig farmers as soon as
possible," the spokesman said.
Ends/Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:13
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