Hong Kong farmers worry Northern Metropolis plan leaves them out in the cold, uncertain if they can carry on
- New Territories farms fall within blueprint zone, but owners do not know how they will be affected
- Healthy demand for local produce, say farmers who hope they will get new plots to continue farming
This is the first of a two-part series on land and those affected by the Northern Metropolis blueprint.
Wong Chin-ming has been running an organic farm in San Tin for almost 16 years, serving loyal customers and Michelin-starred restaurants looking for fresh local produce.
Now he fears the days are numbered for his two-hectare Hung Yat Farm, which has been included in the government’s Northern Metropolis blueprint to build an economic and residential hub for about 2.5 million people in the New Territories over the next two decades.
The San Tin area is envisioned as a “technopole” over 1,100 hectares (2,718 acres), and modelled after Silicon Valley in the United States.
“The plan is all about innovation and technology, ignoring the city’s agriculture, as if we do not exist,” said Wong, 55, full-time farmer for five years.
San Tin, one of Hong Kong’s oldest villages, has been encroached by brownfields and commercialised in recent years as some farmers have abandoned their property or sold it to developers.
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Farming families ponder future under Hong Kong government’s Northern Metropolis plans