Under Hong Kong’s hot sun, 26-year-old Kwok Yau-wah is knee-deep in mud. He is a rice farmer working in Lung Ah Pai in the Tai Po district.
“The hardest part of the year is ploughing the fields for the late crop in July,” Kwok said. “Manual labour under 30 to 40 degrees Celsius ... in high humidity is incredibly tough. You often have to rest 15 minutes every 30 to 60 minutes just to survive it.”
But the heat is not the only challenge he faces.
“Last August, we had consecutive black rainstorms and typhoons right during our seedling cultivation period. It washed away a lot of the topsoil, the nutrients and the seedlings themselves,” he said.
It is rare for a young Hongkonger like Kwok to work in the fields instead of looking for a comfortable office job.
“What makes farming interesting to me ... [are] the design elements, the ecology and the human relationships,” he explained.
Hong Kong’s rice
For four years, Kwok has worked with other farmers to bring back Hong Kong’s native rice. This project is led by Gift from Land, a social project focused on agriculture, culture and education, with support from the Ng Jixing Cultural and Educational Foundation.
Karen Kwok Ka-yan is the project’s senior officer. She noted that places like Yuen Long and Tai Po used to be full of rice paddies.
“What surprised us most was that Hong Kong actually had almost no records of its own rice,” she said.
The team had to get help from seed banks in the Philippines and the United States.
Now, the project has brought back 35 types of local rice. The group has also bred new varieties.
“Many of our heritage Hong Kong varieties are very loose and fluffy with distinct grains. Some even have a slightly rubbery texture when you chew them,” the senior officer Kwok said.
The life of a young farmer
For the young farmer Kwok, his work at Lung Ah Pai follows the seasons. There are two harvests every year.
The early crop goes into the mud in March and is harvested by July. The late crop is transplanted in August for a November harvest.
Kwok’s connection to the soil began in Form Three during a school programme focused on local rural culture.
“I’ve always been interested in nature and science, but going to the fields for the first time felt entirely new,” Kwok said.
He recalled learning about how to live in balance with nature. He would mix food waste with fallen leaves and dry grass to make compost, which helps plants grow.
As he got older, Kwok wanted to work on a farm because it seemed more exciting than being in an office.
“City jobs feel very rigid and lack flexibility; you’re always doing the same pile of tasks,” he said.
“In the fields, everything is subject to change. If you want to alter the shape of your field or plant different varieties, you can implement new ideas immediately.”
As this project nears its end, Kwok and his colleagues plan to continue growing Hong Kong’s heritage rice at a new paddy.
Kwok also wants to pursue a second passion. He described this lifestyle as “spending half my time farming and the other half doing something entirely different”.
He wants to make a video game that helps players understand the farming process.
“I hope to use the knowledge I’ve gained to create a game that people can play and learn from for a long time,” he said.
