Following is a question by the Hon Chan Yuet-ming and a written reply by the Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, in the Legislative Council today (April 16):

Question:

     The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) launched the "Agri enJoy" Scheme (the Scheme) in June last year to facilitate farms engaged in commercial agricultural production. As at March 14 this year, 91 eligible farmers have joined the Scheme. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it knows if there has been any increase in the farmers' income after joining the Scheme;

(2) whether it has compiled statistics on the average costs incurred by farmers seeking to join the Scheme (including but not limited to application fees for government licences and costs for additional structures required for food factory licence applications), and the payback periods for joining the Scheme; and

(3) as there are views that while the participating farms of the Scheme may serve light meals using self-grown crops and non-flame cooking, the types of food they can prepare are still subject to quite a number of restrictions, for example, the making of fruit mochi cakes, fruit jellies, etc, being prohibited, thus rendering it unlikely for farmers to recover their costs in the foreseeable future, whether the AFCD is aware of the above situation and how it will co-ordinate with other government departments to make improvements and assist participating farmers in recovering their costs as early as possible?
 
Reply:
 
President,

     The Government is committed to promoting the modernisation and sustainable development of the agriculture and fisheries industries, and is actively implementing various measures under the Blueprint for the Sustainable Development of Agriculture and Fisheries (the Blueprint). To promote the development of leisure farming, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) launched the "Agri enJoy" Scheme (the Scheme) in June 2024 to facilitate farms engaged in commercial agricultural production to offer agriculture-related activities as their ancillary businesses, so as to increase farmers' income, promote their agricultural products, as well as provide members of the public with chances to experience and learn more about agricultural production.

     The reply to the question raised by the Hon Chan Yuet-ming is as follows:

(1) The Scheme has been in operation for about 10 months since its launch. The AFCD will conduct an annual follow-up assessment for the participating farms in the middle of this year (i.e. one year after the launch of the Scheme), which includes compiling statistics on the number of visitors to the farms, sales status and changes in farmers' income, so as to collect the relevant data for analysis and assess the effectiveness of the Scheme.

(2) Eligible farms can apply to join the Scheme for free. Under the Scheme, farms can organise on-farm activities which aim at promoting farming education, such as guided tours, farming experiential activities and workshops. Participating farms can also apply for food business licences from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) and set up relevant ancillary facilities according to their operational needs, in order to sell self-grown agricultural products with non-flame cooking. Since the participating farms have different operational modes and financial positions, their costs and the payback periods also vary. The AFCD does not collect such commercial information.

(3) The AFCD has been maintaining communication with the industry to understand the needs and operational conditions of the participating farms, and is aware of the wish of some farms to increase the varieties of food that they are permitted to prepare. Currently, the FEHD has drawn up a set of relaxed food business licence terms for the Scheme. On this basis, the AFCD is now discussing with the relevant departments how to further facilitate the participating farms in providing more diversified light refreshment with self-grown crops.

Ends/Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Issued at HKT 12:30

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