HONG KONG GRADUATES FARMING THE GREATER BAY AREA

Chen Ke

InChikan Town of Jiangmen City， south China’s Guangdong Province， Fung Leung from Hong Kong is securely dressed for a day in a paddy field by rolling histrouser legs over his rain boots.The only thing that distinguished him from local villagers is a pair of black-framed glasses and a Hong Kong accent on his Mandarin. A spring breeze wafts across the 20-hectare paddy field，leaving behind a green wave. After therice is harvested， vegetables will beplanted in the field. In concert withanother 13-hectare plot， a vegetableproduction base the size of twoShenzhen Airports is in the works.Upon completion， Leung’s vegetablebase， characterized by a“fish-vegetable symbiosis system，” will expand to acapacity of 8，000 tons annually ofvegetables bound for Hong Kong andMacao.

Leung partnered with two fellowuniversity graduates， Voctor Lo and Mandy Tam， on the project. All three were born in the 1990s and respectively graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic University， the Chinese University of Hong Kong， and the Hong Kong Shu Yan University. Although none majored in agriculture， six years ago， they committed to Jiangmen as the location for their career development. Since then， they have become professional farmers and realized their dreams step by step.

Entrepreneurial Partners

“Symbiosis of fish and vegetable” is an agricultural technology to transform the nutrient-rich water produced by intensive fish farming into nutrients that vegetables absorb through a water treatment system， which can boost the growth of vegetables.

Leung was a sophomore when he was first introduced to the cutting-edge technology for modern agricultural production.

“I first started farming vegetables on a rooftop as a social project in college，” said Leung. “The vegetables I grew looked strange and ugly. So I asked Lo and Tam for help. They were both my high school classmates. With their assistance， the rooftop farm started looking nicer which made the project more interesting.”

“If ‘symbiosis of fish and vegetable’ is applied to mass production of vegetables， it would be tremendously beneficial in many ways，” said Leung. “We are experimenting on ways to apply this to mass production.” They were ambitious， but the rooftop farm was too small to meet their needs. Their instructor suggested they find a better location to continue the experiment. An attempt to expand their farm in Hong Kong， a metropolitan with limited space， failed， which prevented further experiments.

“Later， we began to look for opportunities on the mainland，” said Leung. “We picked Guangdong Province because it is geographically and culturally close to Hong Kong but has more space and more opportunities.” They translated their ideas into plans and made contact with agriculture and human resources authorities in cities of Shenzhen， Zhongshan， Huizhou， Foshan， and Jiangmen. Leung’s mother was not optimistic. “Why would they want to help you with your project？” she asked.

“To our surprise， Zhongshan and Jiangmen sounded excited about it，” Leung recalled， unable to believe it himself.

“Jiangmen provided a 200-squaremeter vacant greenhouse for free along with a spacious dormitory，” he added. Jiangmen is a major agricultural city in Guangdong and the largest “vegetable basket” in the Pearl River Delta region.

The greenhouse is located inCangcheng Town， 55 kilometers from the city center. It is within the perimeter of Jiangmen National Agricultural Science and Technology Park， the largest park of its kind in the city. The young students considered it an optimal location. After graduation， they went to the park to start a business.

Without any support from Hong Kong investors， their start-up fund was a mere 10，000 yuan （US$1，540） of money gifted by their parents and relatives during the Chinese New Year holidays. “In July 2016， we were lucky to receive financial support of 50，000 yuan （US$7，690） from the local ‘mayor’s fund，’ which helped us purchase more equipment and supplies and update the water treatment system，” Leung reported. Since then， each of the trio has played an essential role in realizing their dreams： Leung designed and operates the water treatment system， Lo grows vegetables，and Tam raises fish and carries out microbiological research.

“None of us had ever previously raised fish or planted vegetables，” said Leung， “We started everything from scratch with experiments. When our project was listed as a project with government support for rural and agricultural development， the Park sent two technicians to help us.”

During that period， Leung traveled back to Hong Kong once every two months. “When I got back from Hong Kong， I would immediately head to work in the mountains，” he said. He still fondly recalls first arriving at the greenhouse in Cangcheng in July after graduating from university. The average temperature in the greenhouse was 36-37 degrees Celsius （96-98F）. “We undressed almost immediately，” he grinned. “At first， we wore swimwear so that we did not have to do laundry. However， soon enough， we gotsunburned and started wearing clothesto cover our skin.”

Upgrading with Experience

Soon after their water treatmentsystem went operational， the first cropofvegetables was harvested. However，Leung and his team didn’t like the whiteand yellowish colors on vegetables thatwere supposed to be green. The localtechnicians suggested that it was a lackof iron and potassium in their watertreatment system， essential mineralsto grow green vegetables.“We learnedthat there are two kinds of additives：chemical and natural，” said Leung.“Ifwe chose the chemical additive， thefish in the pond would be killed， andthe vegetables would not meet thestandards of organic products.”

They began to conduct more experiments. They tried a number of things， including swine feces and fish guts， to no avail. Eventually， they found a good solution： After fermentation， peanut bran became a nice natural additive. Across three years of research and development， the entrepreneurial team collected more than 3，300 sets of water quality data and completed some 2，600 experiments in vegetable cultivation.

Leung clearly remembers the day in late August 2017 that Super Typhoon Hato hit the Pearl River Delta region just as the first stage of experiment was closing on success. Their greenhouse was leveled on the eve of harvest. Leung and his partners looked at each other speechless for a long time before Leung broke the silence： “Does this mean we have to go back to Hong Kong？” They did return to Hong Kong for a week to regroup.

Soon， the Park authorities noticed their difficult situation. After the typhoon， the Park offered the entrepreneurial trio two 200-square-meter smartglass greenhouses. Leung regained hisconfidence， and agreed with his partners that since they were starting over，they should apply their accumulatedexperience to improve the fish-vegetable symbiosis system and makebreakthroughs.“The typhoon promptedus to upgrade the system while solvingthe existing problems，” said Leung.“Since then， our business has been doing muchbetter.” Their new system was completedthe same day as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge， which they considered ameaningful coincidence.

After experimenting with more than 200 varieties ofvegetables， the base now raises a dozen varieties ofvegetablesincluding lettuce， cabbage， mustardgreens， and other green vegetables. In2019， its annual vegetable productioncapacity reached 500 tons.

Leung was quite impressed by hisfirst experience selling his productsin the market. Although localhousewives were happy with their “sample” vegetables， they were still notsure whether any locals would pay apremium for them. So the team decided to try their fortune in a suburbanwholesale market.

“The market opened at 11 a.m.，”recalled Leung.“Buyers swarmed ourtruck as soon as the doors opened.”Leung assumed that their products were popular simply because they lookedclean， white and plump， with very fewimperfections.“Although our productswere 20 to 30 percent more expensivethan their counterparts in the market，they were competitive as organic andeco-friendly.”

Leung and his partners don’t haveto go back to the wholesale marketanymore because buyers now cometo the base. Some of their products are transported to Hong Kong directly. Inthe past， when production capacitywas limited， they shipped about aton ofvegetables to Hong Kong everyweek together with goods from othersuppliers.“With production capacity expanded this year， we now sendtruckloads of our products to HongKong，” he said.

Their registered business hasobtained certification as a“vegetableproduction base for Hong Kongand Macao” and“vegetable basketproduction base for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.”Leung often pictures his relatives and friends in Hong Kong picking up fresh vegetables in their local market that he personally cultivated.“That gives me a sense of achievement，” he said.

Beneficiaries of the Greater Bay Area

It’s an hour by car from Leung’sbase in Cangcheng to Chikan. Withsupport from the local governmentand villagers’committee， Leung’s teamsubcontracted the management rightsto a 33-hectare plot with intent to makeit their main vegetable production base.

Over the last two months， theteam has worked with local villagers to prepare 20 hectares of the plot tocultivate high-quality rice.

“You shouldn’t just launch rightinto planting vegetables across thewhole plot，” explained Leung.“We’realso digging a four-hectare fish pondin Chikan. The water in the pond willbe treated with our system to irrigatevegetables similarly to what we did inthe Cangcheng base.” In the middle ofthe new base is a two-story house builtby local villagers with a beautiful viewfrom the second-floor balcony. Theyrented the house to use the first floor as a meeting room， office， and lab， and the second floor as dormitories.

When they first arrived in Jiangmen， construction of the Greater Bay Areawas not yet in full swing at the national level.“We were not aware of the project until we began to feel the power of itspresence，” said Leung. It used to takethem three to four hours to travel backto Hong Kong because they had to crossthe Humen Bridge which was frequently jammed.“Things are much easier nowwith more options such as high-speedtrains， the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-MacaoBridge， and the Nansha Bridge. We havebenefited a lot from the development of infrastructure： It’s easier for us to travelback home， and the logistical costs forour production have dropped steeply.”

Leung also had some newexperiences. He had previously visitedbig cities in the mainland， but hadno idea what the suburban area ofJiangmen would be like. Upon arrival，he found it quite developed in a number of impressive industries.“It is theworld’s No.1 producer of corn poppers，”gasped Leung.“Without knowinganything about the host city， we werewelcomed to settle there and given aplatform for our career development.”The trio is working to give back to theirgenerous hosts. Alongside becominglocal taxpayers， they won a gold medalfor Guangdong Province in the national young innovators and entrepreneurscompetition at the end of 2019.

Leung has also enjoyed getting toknow the local villagers. Everyone intown knows the trio by now， and theyare frequently teased about their tanned skin. Leung has not been back to HongKong since the outbreak of COVID-19more than two years ago. During theSpring Festival of 2022， he and Lo visited a neighbor in the village to extendfestive greetings.“We also enjoyed agood meal，” he said with a laugh.

Today， the three young entrepreneurs have even bigger dreams for the future： In five to 10 years， they want to call both Hong Kong and Jiangmen home， withtheir production base in Jiangmen andtheir R&D base in Shenzhen.

“Each city in the Greater Bay Area has unique features that can help us realize our dreams，” said Leung.“If other young people in Hong Kong are interested infarming on the mainland， I would behappy to guide them.”