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.