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Following is a question by the Hon Chan Wai-yip and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (October 13) :

Question :

In reply to my question on November 21, 2001, the Administration advised that the stench from a nullah in Tin Shui Wai originated from pig farms in the district, and that it would continue with its enforcement actions against illegal discharges of pig excretion. The Administration has also promised to study my proposal to set up a livestock centre at a location far away from residential areas and relocating all the pig farms there to reduce the nuisances caused by such farms to residents nearby. As the problem of stench from the nullah has deteriorated rather than improved, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the measures that have been implemented since November 2001 to solve the above problem;

(b) apart from regular inspections and night-time raid operations, of the specific plans and measures to address the above problem, and when the problem of stench from the nullah can be completely solved; and

(c) of the progress of its study of my proposal?

Reply :

(a) Since November 2001, Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) had stepped up surveillance operations on pig farms near Tin Shui Wai area. EPD has carried out 836 routine inspections to ensure that wastewater from the farms is properly treated before being discharged. EPD has also carried out 204 prolonged night-time ambushes to farms with suspected illegal discharges, which has resulted in 16 successful convictions.

As far as educating the farmers and helping them to manage livestock waste properly, EPD also organised a workshop earlier this year to keep farmers abreast of the livestock waste treatment practices of the Mainland and overseas.

(b) EPD will continue to conduct surveillance operations on farms in the Tin Shui Wai area, step up enforcement actions and carry out night-time ambushes against farms with poor compliance records to further deter any illegal discharge.

EPD has all along been very concerned about the odour problem in the Tin Shui Wai New Town. According to EPD's long term monitoring results, the water quality at Tin Shui Wai Nullah has been maintained at fair or good levels. In fact, odour can be generated from many sources. While illegal discharge of livestock waste can cause odour, farm sheds and pigs will also produce odour. Wind direction may also affect the dispersion of smell.

In order to improve the environment effectively, EPD plans to collaborate with the livestock farming associations to introduce a partnership programme to promote self-discipline among farmers and to raise their awareness of environmental protection. EPD also plans to make use of a web based livestock portal to provide the public with information on the farms and encourage them to participate in monitoring any illegal discharge. The above should help the trade to improve its discipline and social responsibility, which in turn would help improve the hygiene of farms and minimise their environmental nuisances caused to new development areas.

Apart from the above measures, AFCD will also consider reviewing the licensing conditions for livestock farms, including the possibility of implementing a demerit point system, so as to tackle those farms with poor records.

(c) Livestock farms must adopt stringent farm management practices as well as disease prevention and control measures to ensure the health and quality of the livestock. In addition to implementing an appropriate vaccination programme for livestock, the farms must also adopt various preventive measures to reduce the risk of infection. To ensure healthy development of livestock farming and protect public health, advanced countries nowadays have established stringent biosecurity requirements to reduce the risk of spread of animal diseases amongst and beyond farms. An important biosecurity measure to reduce the risk of transmission of animal diseases is to require that farms should be separated by a certain distance.

The concept of a pig husbandry centre is to put a considerable number of pig farms in a relatively small area. A good choice of site can help reduce possible nuisances caused by pig farms to residents. However, in practice, the reduced distance between farms would substantially increase the risk of spread of swine diseases among pig farms in the husbandry centre and the chances of outbreak of animal diseases therein. Such outbreaks may cause enormous financial losses and jeopardise public health.

The current biosecurity standard of AFCD requires that new livestock farms should have a minimum distance of 500 metres from any other farms. As a rule of thumb, only one pig farm can be established within a piece of land of about 21 hectares. To accommodate all the pigs farms in Hong Kong would require about 6 000 hectares. Yet, Hong Kong has a total of about 100 000 hectares of land only. We cannot afford to set aside 6 000 hectares of land for the development of pig husbandry centres.

In view of the above, AFCD is of the view that the establishment of pig husbandry centres is not a viable option. Apart from biosecurity concerns and the intractable problem of reducing the risk of transmission of animal disease, it would also increase the risk of pigs coming down with infectious diseases.

End /Wednesday, October 13, 2004

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