Name: Lau Wai Kin (18)Cheung Ka Man(8)

Yu Kit Ming(43)Wong Ka Hung(34)Tam King Ho (31)

Farming system in Tai Kong PoPhysical inputs

1.Climate

2.Soil and land

3.Seeds or livestock

4.Water supply or underground water

Cultural inputs

1.Labour

2.Capital

3.Technology

4.Transport

Processes

1.Sowing

2.Ploughing

3.Planting

4.Watering

5.Weeding

6.Fertilizing

7.Harvesting

8.Terracing

9.Fallowing

10.Irrigation

Outputs

1.Crop

2.Waste

3.Pollution

Characteristics of farming activities in Tai Kong Po

Intensity of land use The intensity of land use in Tai Kong Po is low.

Besides are lots of abandoned farms in Tail Kong Po.

Farm size The farm size in Tai Kong Po is small. Scale of

farm size is limited.

Level of Mechanization A few machines are used to help farming

activities. Besides, the farm size is small, machines are small in scale. Also, the farmers are lack of capital, they can’t afford expensive machinery.

Outputs

Type of crops:• Vegetable• Fruit• Spice

Favorable factors for farming activities in Tai

Kong Po sunshine and seasonal rainfalls

Suitable rainfalls and sunshine speed up photosynthesis

There are no tall buildings block the sunshine

Relief of land Gradient in Tai Kong Po is gentle, all farmlands

are flat .As a result farming activities are easily developed.

Mechanization Small scale machines are used to help farming

activities.

Irrigation system Irrigation system is impo

rted so that water can be supplied for crops during dry days . Kam Tin River helps irrigationFertile soilAlluvial of the River results in fertile soil.

Constraints faced by farmers

Crop yield Being a farmer has to bear a risk of unstable income.

During a year, there are different kind of natural hazard, crops maybe badly destroyed .As a result, crop yield decrease a lot.

Lack of capital & knowledge Second, farmers may lack of capital but also the

knowledge to improve farming. As the income of farmers is unstable and low . Farmers won’t have enough money to buy equipment or machinery in order to improve the quality of crops. Even they can afford the machinery, they may also didn’t know how to operate them.

Quality of crops There are many factors that affect quality of crops.

Weather is one of the factor, too much sunshine and precipitation affect crops quality. Besides, the area nearby is developing, the quality will be affected.

Scale of farmland Farmlands in Tai Kong Po are in small scale. Even

though farmers want to have a huge amount of product, it is not allowed.

Low level of technology Because of limited capital, most of the farmer

have to use low technology to farm, in case, their quality and number of product will lower than the other countries, such as America, Thailand, China etc.

So, local farmers’ profit usually lower than the diplomacies.

Competition-As Hong Kong has import the farming product from the foreign countries, local farmers have to compete with them.Natural Hazards-In summer, Hong Kong will under the bad weather condition, the yield may die easily, and the farmers income will become lower.Lack support from young generation. Most of the farmers in Tai Kong Po are old, young aged farmers are rare.

Flood preventionThe Kam Tin river near Tai Kong Po is now under construction. The project of it is to straighten the drainage channel and river channelThe objective of this project is to prevent flooding. Actually, Kam Tin river is at the south part of Tai Kong Po .When there is a flooding, Tai Kong Po will seriously affected. Besides, drainage system is imported in farms to prevent flooding.

Abandoned farmsAs income of farming is not stable due to nature hazards. On the other , working in cities can earn a stable income. There is a gap between the income. Farmers would like to change their jobs instead of being farmers. As a result , the number of farmers is getting fewer and fewer, abandoned farms are resulted.Second, competition between mainland farmers and Hong Kong farmers. Mainland provide Hong Kong a huge amount of crops everyday, thus farms are not necessary.

Better use of abandoned farms Abandoned farms can be developed as the following

uses:For commercial use-as farming is nearly also ran, use the land for building shops etc can increase the income of people who are doing primary industry.Besides ,the local farmers also would like to change their abandoned farmlands into some gardens, and use them to plant some flowers or something else for selling to earn money. Store can be built there in order to increase income.

Ways to solve farmers ‘ constraints

Government support- Supporting local farming let the farmers can sell more output.

• Allotment more land for farming-Because the farmlands in Tai Kong Po are limited, government should allotment more land for farmers to grows more products to gain more money. Apart from growing vegetable and fruit, farmers should grow flowers for sell to earn more.

Third, in order to rise the quality of crops, farmers shouldn’t use pesticides. Furthermore, type of fertilizers must be seriously chosen that healthy crops are produced.

Besides, the government should send some specialists to teach the farmers how to make full use of the machinery in order to raise their crop yield in a more efficient way.

Settlement Function Shek Wu TongCommercial use:

• Chinese Restaurant• Store• Salon• Dispensary• Hardware store• dispensary• Elderly living• Bronze ware• Schools• Vehicles spare part

Industrial use• Car repairing• Retailing• Car services

Settlement Function Kam Tin Market Commercial use

• Car park • Restaurant• HK Jockey Club• Stores• Post office• Beauty centre• Salon• Vase selling shop• Bar• Schools• News stall• Hardware store• Insurance company• Vegetable station

• Laundry• Aquarium• Supermarket• dispensary

The main type of settle function in Kam Tin Market is commercial.

Residential use• Park• Public toilet• LPG company• Bakery• Church• Elderly living• Karaoke

Industrial use• repairing

Settlement Function Tai Kong Po

Agricultural use• Fallow• Abandoned fields

Commercial use• Store• Vegetable station

Which town is highest in order

Kam Tin Market Town is the highest in order.The reason why Kam Tin Market Town is the highest is that there are more commercial buildings than the others. Besides the population density is higher there . It seems that it will no longer a rural area, but a more developed area.

Factors encouraging rural developing

Urbanization As population is increasing, there is not enough land, thus, rural areas will be developed. Less farmland-Huge amount of crops from mainland is imported to Hong Kong everyday, so farmlands in Hong Kong is not necessary. The profit of farmers is not stable. Natural hazard such as flooding, typhoons, drought can affect the income of farmers . So many farmers change their jobs instead of being farmers. Also, chicken houses in Tai Kong Po will decrease due to bird trod in Hong Kong.

These factors encourage rural development there.

Reason for why there is increasing number of car services companies,

wood factories and property agenciesRent is low

As the area is not developed., the demand of land is low.

As a result, there are many empty land left behind and the rent is low. Car services companies, wood factories and property agencies such big site can settle there with a low rent.

Land use change in future Urbanization

Development of the new town: since the transport is getting more convenient than before, more and more buildings will probably be built over there. Thus new town is formed.

-Transport use: eg roads, tunnels and railway lines are developing, land uses will switch to urban use.

But some of the rural settlement remain unchanged. For example the north part of Tai Kong Po. There relief there is not suitable for developing.