Subsidies to local primary producers open for registration and loan repayment deferral and interest waiver for Fisheries Development Loan Fund borrowers

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     To provide immediate financial relief to local primary producers who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government will provide subsidies to local primary producers and provide an interest-free loan repayment deferral arrangement for loan borrowers under the Fisheries Development Loan Fund (FDLF) under the second round of the Anti-epidemic Fund. The Government will also provide a subsidy to wholesale traders operating in the fresh food wholesale markets.

     A spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said today (April 25) that the Government will provide a subsidy of $10,000 to each local primary producer (including owners of vegetable farms, hydroponic farms, flower farms and nurseries, marine fish culture farms, pond fish farms, fishing vessels and fish collector vessels, but excluding livestock farms). Those who have already benefited from the Subsidies for Live Marine Fish Wholesale Traders and Fishing Vessels with Mainland Deckhands in the first round of the Anti-epidemic Fund will not be eligible. About 7 600 local primary producers will benefit from the above measure. The total amount of subsidy involved is approximately $76 million.
 
     The application period has started and will end on June 1. Application forms will be distributed to eligible applicants by post and uploaded to the AFCD website (Agriculture: afcd.gov.hk/english/whatsnew/what_agr/what_agr.html; Fisheries: afcd.gov.hk/english/whatsnew/what_fis/what_fis.html). Completed application forms together with the required documents must be submitted to the AFCD as stated on the forms. Subsidies will be disbursed to successful applicants as soon as possible.
 
     Moreover, the Government will provide one-off interest-free deferral of loan repayment for a period of one year to loan borrowers under the FDLF. The AFCD will issue a letter together with a confirmation slip to all borrowers. Upon receipt of the borrower's confirmation of acceptance, the AFCD will make the new repayment arrangement.
     
     Furthermore, ​to support the wholesale traders operating in the fresh food wholesale markets, who provide a stable food supply to Hong Kong, the Government will provide a subsidy of $40,000 to each eligible wholesale trader (the ceiling of the grant for each wholesale trader under the same business registration operating multiple stores is $200,000). Those who have already benefited from the Retail Sector Subsidy Scheme and the Food Licence Holder Subsidy Scheme in the first round of the Anti-epidemic Fund will not be eligible. About 1 300 wholesale traders will benefit from the measure. Eligible applicants for the measure include:
 

• fresh marine fish wholesale traders in the Fish Marketing Organization (FMO) markets;
• vegetable wholesale traders in the Vegetable Marketing Organization (VMO) market;
• freshwater fish/vegetable/fruit/egg wholesale traders in the AFCD wholesale food markets; and
• freshwater fish/vegetable/fruit wholesale traders in the Yuen Long Freshwater Fish Wholesale Market, the Yuen Long Temporary Wholesale Vegetable Market and the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market.

     The application period has started and will end on June 1. Application forms will be distributed to eligible applicants through staff of the AFCD or the organisations concerned, and uploaded to the AFCD's website (Agricultural products: afcd.gov.hk/english/whatsnew/what_agr/what_agr.html; Fisheries products: afcd.gov.hk/english/whatsnew/what_fis/what_fis.html). Completed application forms together with the required documents must be submitted to the AFCD as stated on the forms. Subsidies will be disbursed to successful applicants as soon as possible.
 
     For more details, please contact the department on the following hotlines:
 

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