AFP, Hong Kong :
It’s a rural tradition that faded out decades ago as Hong Kong turned into a neon-lit megacity: rice seedlings being dropped into watery paddy fields with gentle plops.
But now a new wave of farmers are growing the staple again in sleepy Long Valley in the city’s northern New Territories, where buzzing insects and flocking birds offer a rich contrast to the high rise blocks in the distance.
Former supermarket supervisor Kan Wai-hong went from working late shifts to harvesting sacks of fragrant, golden rice.
“In the past people in Hong Kong grew rice,” said Kan, 42, about his move.
“I could teach the people again and revive rice farming.”
The naturally-farmed rice paddies started reappearing in Long Valley seven years ago after a 40-odd year absence. Started as part of a bird-friendly wetland conservation project, five farmers now produce around three tons of rice a year near the border with Hong Kong’s biggest food supplier mainland China.
It’s a mere drop in the 833 tons of rice that Hong Kong goes through every day, but it fetches several times the price of mass-produced imports as part of a growing demand for naturally grown food.
A relentless run of food scandals across the border-from rotten meat in fast-food to dead pigs floating in rivers, recycled “gutter oil”, and heavy pesticide use-has made people rethink the way they shop.
“When food safety in mainland China or even other places is not that good, then Hong Kong people will choose foods that are safer,” said Kan. “The trend of society has changed, people have become more affluent and they care more about food safety-so more people have come into contact with these products,” he said of the more expensive organic fare.
One of the world’s most densely populated places, the former British colony imports nearly all of its food with just two percent of its vegetables locally grown.
But the number of organic-style vegetable farms has increased from a handful of trailblazers in the 1990s to several hundred today-of which 130 are certified as fully organic.
While still flown in to the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city, homegrown organic vegetables now make up 12 percent of the 45 tons of vegetables the city produces daily.
Shoppers are shrugging off the fact that they cost more than their mass produced counterparts.
“After learning that there are quite a lot of different kinds of pesticides or different ways of growing the plants, I think it’s better to have the organic ones,” Jenny Ho told AFP while browsing one of several weekly organic markets.
It’s a rural tradition that faded out decades ago as Hong Kong turned into a neon-lit megacity: rice seedlings being dropped into watery paddy fields with gentle plops.
But now a new wave of farmers are growing the staple again in sleepy Long Valley in the city’s northern New Territories, where buzzing insects and flocking birds offer a rich contrast to the high rise blocks in the distance.
Former supermarket supervisor Kan Wai-hong went from working late shifts to harvesting sacks of fragrant, golden rice.
“In the past people in Hong Kong grew rice,” said Kan, 42, about his move.
“I could teach the people again and revive rice farming.”
The naturally-farmed rice paddies started reappearing in Long Valley seven years ago after a 40-odd year absence. Started as part of a bird-friendly wetland conservation project, five farmers now produce around three tons of rice a year near the border with Hong Kong’s biggest food supplier mainland China.
It’s a mere drop in the 833 tons of rice that Hong Kong goes through every day, but it fetches several times the price of mass-produced imports as part of a growing demand for naturally grown food.
A relentless run of food scandals across the border-from rotten meat in fast-food to dead pigs floating in rivers, recycled “gutter oil”, and heavy pesticide use-has made people rethink the way they shop.
“When food safety in mainland China or even other places is not that good, then Hong Kong people will choose foods that are safer,” said Kan. “The trend of society has changed, people have become more affluent and they care more about food safety-so more people have come into contact with these products,” he said of the more expensive organic fare.
One of the world’s most densely populated places, the former British colony imports nearly all of its food with just two percent of its vegetables locally grown.
But the number of organic-style vegetable farms has increased from a handful of trailblazers in the 1990s to several hundred today-of which 130 are certified as fully organic.
While still flown in to the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city, homegrown organic vegetables now make up 12 percent of the 45 tons of vegetables the city produces daily.
Shoppers are shrugging off the fact that they cost more than their mass produced counterparts.
“After learning that there are quite a lot of different kinds of pesticides or different ways of growing the plants, I think it’s better to have the organic ones,” Jenny Ho told AFP while browsing one of several weekly organic markets.
