a farming mystery

All the land between the eastern edge of Fanling and the Ng Tung River is owned by Henderson Land, one of Hong Kong’s largest property developers. This land was once part of the river’s flood plain, although it doesn’t flood now, because the river has been canalized. It is therefore extremely fertile, and when we moved to our present house in 2008, it was being extensively cultivated.

However, in 2011, Henderson moved in to ‘clear’ the land. All abandoned houses were demolished, and large areas that had been under cultivation were fenced off. But here’s the mystery: not all the cultivated areas were fenced off, and I’ve often wondered why. Development of a small area started last year but appears to be proceeding at a snail’s pace. A couple of years before we moved to the area in 2008, Henderson was told by the government that if it didn’t start developing the area, it would be forced to relinquish it.

Henderson’s response was to build a cluster of village houses in the west of the area. But these were never occupied. They were never completed! They remained mere concrete shells. Like every other property speculator, Henderson was simply waiting for a time when prices in the property market were about to go through the roof.

Anyway, what follows is a brief survey of that part of the area I walk through almost every day, either for shopping or en route to a local restaurant for yam char.

There used to be a lot of interconnected paths in the area, but most are now inaccessible. If you follow the main path from Ma Sik Road, which currently marks the eastern edge of Fanling, you will pass a few still-occupied squatter houses, and after about 40 metres, you will see this:

This is what this field looks like from the white house seen in the previous photo:

The land on the opposite side of the path is also under cultivation:

In other words, nothing has changed here since 2008.

The next photo shows an area a short distance further down the path that has been fenced off by Henderson:

Unlike other fenced-off areas, this has not become choked with vegetation. The reason is in the photo. Some enterprising local has somehow managed to gain access from the far side and is using it to graze goats, three of which you can see resting next to the fence.

The continuation of the path leads to the Ng Tung River, but if I’m going home, I turn right here. Within a few metres, this is what I see on the right:

The plastic windmills are this farmer’s way to scare birds off his crop!  And the fence has been erected by the farmer merely to keep curious passers-by out. This area appears to be cultivated by whoever lives in the house that you can see in the photo, although there is no physical barrier between this area and the next cultivated area, other than a thin line of rough vegetation:

You might think that the sign in the next photo simply reinforces the ‘keep off’ message:

private, important place, no entry to unauthorized visitors

However, it is just one of dozens originally erected by Henderson Land around the area, which this farmer has decided to leave in place.

The next cultivated area, of which the two previous photos show just a small part, does appear to be a serious commercial operation:

I base this assessment on the sheer number of papaya plants that have been planted in the last couple of years—and the effort that has gone into fencing off the entire farmed area. Papayas are stunningly simple to grow. You will get fruit within three years! And you can pay up to HK$10 for a big one in the local market.

The area shown in the previous two photos has been cleared of vegetation in just the last two years, and like the area that is shown in the next photo, it appears to be under the control of whoever lives in the house seen in the last photo.

This photo shows the continuation of the path—and the rudimentary fencing that has been put in place in the last two or three years. I assume that this ‘farm’ has been under new management during this period, because although this section has been cultivated since we moved into the area, there never used to be any barriers between the path and the crop.

Just to the left of the last photo is a path that leads nowhere other than to another extensive cultivated area:

There isn’t any kind of permanent dwelling here, and it’s possible that this area is being cultivated by the same people.

And this is a view of the main path, looking backwards:

…and this is another area of intensive papaya cultivation in yet another recently cleared area immediately to the right of the camera position in the previous photo:

If instead of following the main path, you turn off past the white house seen in the first photo in this report, you will pass several squatter houses before arriving at another extensive cultivated area:

The area on the left past the path on the left was still being cultivated ten years ago but is now fenced off.

This is a view of the area to the left of the path from the path junction:

Both sides are part of the same farm, because I’ve seen the same person working on both sides.

You would have to know where the main path leads here in order to continue, and since the enclosures, almost nobody does so (assuming they come this way in the first place). However, it does continue:

The land on both sides was once cultivated but is now heavily overgrown. As an indication of how well used this path was once, there are still functioning streetlights!

And that’s the mystery. Why have some previously cultivated areas been fenced off and allowed to revert to nature, while others remain under cultivation? There are two possible explanations. I think that the remaining farmers had been there long enough to acquire some kind of squatters’ rights, meaning that they couldn’t be summarily evicted. However, Paula reckons that all were offered compensation to leave, and some, obvious opportunists, took the money and ran. The surviving farmers thought that what they were offered wasn’t enough and decided to stay. Both explanations seem equally plausible, but which is correct?

The entire area will, eventually, be covered by high-rise apartment blocks, but only when Henderson Land deems it worth their while. I don’t think they are in any hurry.

background information
Turf Wars
A Blot on the Landscape
Turf Wars Update