FARMERS last night vowed to ignore the new livestock waste controls and threatened to take radical action against the regulations.
They said they would not kow tow to the Government, which they said was ''a traitor to the people of Hong Kong'', and would not register their farming businesses under the new controls.
The farmers, protesting outside the Legislative Council, said the licensing system would strangle their industry.
''We are very upset. I believe future actions will be far more radical,'' said the vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Livestock Industry Association, Wong Kwong-wing said.
Chairman So Ying-kiu said: ''We will definitely not comply with the new legislation. We will fight to the end at all costs.'' It is believed the farmers are being backed by the powerful rural body the Heung Yee Kuk, which sent 15 members to support yesterday's protest.
Kuk chairman Lau Wong-fat did not rule out the possibility of asking the pig farmers to reciprocate support for the New Territories villagers' campaign against proposals for equal inheritance rights.
