New agricultural park will boost Hong Kong’s vegetable production but farmers are not happy they cannot live on site
- Site at Kwu Tung South in the New Territories will have dormitories for farmers to rest in, but government wants to maximise arable land
- Farmers and their supporters call decision absurd, saying their working hours mean they cannot commute
Hong Kong will produce 4,000 more tonnes of vegetables a year once an 80-hectare agricultural park is completed – a rise from the current annual harvest of 14,900 tonnes – officials announced on Wednesday.
But the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department has rejected calls from farmers to be allowed to live at the site, as is currently the case, saying officials want to maximise the agricultural use of the land.
“There will be dormitories of about 150 sq ft for the farmers to rest in. But they can’t live there. You can’t have your whole family living there,” said Peter Ma Wai-chung, acting assistant director of agriculture.
The park will be in Kwu Tung South in the New Territories, near where a new-town project is to start later this year, uprooting hundreds of families, including those of farmers. The farmers have been offered an option to continue farming there, but they have said the requirement for them to live off-site is unrealistic.
Former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying floated the idea of the park as part of a new agricultural policy in his 2016 policy address, when he said the value of agriculture goes beyond its economic contribution.
The plan was to provide better support for farmers in product marketing and brand building, and develop leisure and educational activities related to agriculture.
Officials now hope that the park will boost agricultural products to meet growing demand for healthy local food.
“The public craves local vegetables. They consider farming to be an indispensable part of the city’s sustainable development,” Ma said, adding that soil quality would be improved and technical support would be provided to future users.
Farmers must live on their farm. Sometimes farmers work until 8pm. We just can’t live elsewhere
The government will seek funding from the Legislative Council in the second quarter of this year for the first phase of the project. If successful, construction will start in the third quarter, and be completed towards the end of 2020.
The size of the site in the first phase will be about 10 hectares, and the government will seek HK$510 million from the legislature to buy the private lands on the site and another HK$176 million for the construction.
The cost for the second phase has not been finalised. There is also currently no timetable for the second phase.
Ma said rent at the park would be at market rates – HK$1,000 a year for a site of about 670 square metres. Normally, Ma said, a farming family requires 2,010 square metres; thus, the annual rent would be HK$3,000.
Farmers can rent the site for five years per contract, to be renewed once expired. The department will monitor the productivity of farmers to decide whether contracts will be renewed.
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Once phase two is completed, the site can accommodate 200 to 300 farming families.
However, 16 families already farming and living at the site will have no choice but to leave the site. But the government stressed that they would be given the priority to farm at the park once the first phase of construction is completed.
Becky Au Hei-man, a farmer in Ma Shi Po village in Fanling, who could be evicted later this year, said she would “definitely” not consider farming at the new park.
“Farmers must live on their farm. Sometimes farmers work until 8pm. We just can’t live elsewhere,” said Au, 34.
She added that farming is not just a job but a way of life.
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Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki, who visited the site on a tour led by officials last month, said it was “absurd” that farmers would not be allowed to live on the farm.
“Farmers begin their day at 5am or 6am and then work long hours. You can’t expect them to live somewhere else and commute to the farm every day,” Kwok said. “The officials themselves work at government headquarters and live somewhere else, so they think it works that way for farmers too. This is ridiculous.”
The farmers told Kwok that they only wanted small houses of about 400 sq ft at the farm site.
