Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ5: Buyout package for live poultry trade
Following is a question by the Hon Vincent Fang and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today
(July 9):
Question:
Some workers in the live poultry trade have relayed to me that in June this year
the Food and Health Bureau proposed to the live poultry trade an option of
permanent cessation of business and offered a fairly attractive buyout package
to live poultry retailers. In this connection, will the Government inform this
Council:
(a) whether it has assessed the respective numbers of trades, operators and
employees, including monthly-rated employees and temporary employees, in the
entire supply chain of live poultry to be affected when the live poultry trade
ceases business permanently;
(b) of the number of government posts the duties of which are related to the
supply chain of live poultry and the government departments to which they
belong; whether such posts will be deleted following the total cessation of
business of the live poultry trade; if so, of the number of posts to be deleted
and the government departments involved; if not, how the work of the government
officials concerned will be deployed; whether the scope of duties of the
Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department will thus be substantially
reduced, and have to merge with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department;
and
(c) whether the local poultry farmers have rented government land at present; if
they have, how the Government will deal with such land after the live poultry
trade ceases business permanently; whether the Government will accept the
trade's proposal to convert the Cheung San Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry
Market into a chilled poultry wholesale centre, and how it will make use of the
live poultry retail stalls in the government markets?
Reply:
Madam President,
The detection of avian influenza virus in environmental samples collected from
retail markets last month proves the effectiveness of our preventive and
surveillance measures. But this also indicates the need to further strengthen
our preventive efforts by promptly implementing precautionary measures against
avian influenza at various levels, in particular the retail level, of the supply
chain of live chicken. In this connection, we have put in place the requirement
of no overnight stocking of live chicken since July 2.
We understand that some traders are concerned about the prospect of the live
poultry trade and hope the Government would come up with a buyout package. To
address their concern, we offered a buyout package to local farmers,
wholesalers, retailers, transporters and affected workers in late June. Our
proposal submitted to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council for
funding approval involved an amount exceeding $1.1 billion. Our reply to the
three parts of the question is as follows:
(a) As at June 2008, there are 52 poultry farmers (including 50 chicken farmers
and 2 pigeon farmers), 71 wholesalers, 469 retailers and some 250 transporters
in the live poultry trade of Hong Kong. The number of affected workers is about
2 550.
(b) As to current regulation of the live poultry trade, the Agriculture,
Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) is responsible for the management
of the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Poultry Wholesale Market, surveillance on local
farms and conduct of laboratory tests for avian flu. The Food and Environmental
Hygiene Department (FEHD) oversees the management of live poultry retail outlets
(i.e. live poultry market stalls and fresh provision shops selling live poultry)
and enforcement of import control.
According to the information provided by the trade, most of the retailers will
choose to wind up their business, whilst some may still wish to stay in the
trade. Some farmers, wholesalers and transporters may also choose to stay in the
trade. As there is still time before the deadline for the trade to consider the
buyout package, we at the present moment do not know how many people in the
trade will accept the offer in the end. Hence, we can only assess the manpower
implications of the buyout package for the Government departments at the next
stage.
However, the FEHD staff responsible for inspecting live poultry market stalls
and fresh provision shops are also concurrently carrying out other environmental
hygiene duties. Besides, the FEHD needs to retain manpower for inspecting the
few market stalls and the fresh provision shops which choose to continue the
retail business to ensure compliance with the requirement of 'no overnight
stocking of live chickens'. If any live poultry market stalls and fresh
provision shops switch to the sale of chilled/frozen meat or food, they also
come under FEHD's regulation. As for the AFCD staff responsible for the
surveillance of local farms, they are concurrently carrying out duties such as
the surveillance of backyard poultry farming and animal trader licensing. The
implementation of the buyout package, therefore, will not significantly reduce
the workload of the FEHD and AFCD staff.
(c) Of the 52 poultry farmers in Hong Kong, 21 are operating on government land.
If they choose to leave the trade, the AFCD will notify the District Lands
Offices in the respective districts to follow up on the use of the government
land concerned.
The Cheung San Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market is a wholesale market for
live poultry trade. If it is no longer used by the trade, the property concerned
will be, under the normal procedure, returned to the Lands Department for other
land use purpose. At present, the Government does not require the chilled
poultry wholesale business to operate at specific locations. Traders are free to
decide the mode of operation and location of business as long as they have
obtained a fresh provision shop licence as required by laws. There is no need
for the Government to grant land for the chilled poultry wholesale business.
As at July this year, 90 live poultry stalls in FEHD markets are allowed to sell
chilled poultry as well. If tenants of the other 170 live poultry stalls wish to
switch to the sale of chilled poultry, they may submit their applications as
soon as possible. The FEHD will provide them with appropriate assistance in
relation to the tenancy of the market stalls and process their applications
promptly. Moreover, subject to actual demand in the market, the FEHD will also
consider letting out the existing vacant live poultry stalls for the chilled
poultry trade.
Ends/Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Issued at HKT 14:33
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