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Introduction • On the 10th May, our class went to Kam Tin to learn more about the land-use planning there. We have three aims of this trip. Firstly, we want to examine the changing rural land uses in Kam Tin area,. Secondly, is to identify the hierarchy of different settlement functions in Kam Tin area. And lastly is to investigate the characteristics of farming system in Kam Tin area. • After working in there, adding the knowledge that we learn from our textbook as well as our own knowledge, we make the following result.
Content Farming In Tai Kong Po Farming System Characteristic Favorable Factors Constraints Abandoned Farm Rural Development The 3 Market Towns Favourable Factors Rural Settlement Change Special Terms Our Reflection
Farming in Tai Kong Po Farming System (input, process & output) A farm can be view as a system which has inputs, processes and outputs. And the farming system can be further classified as inputs, processes and outputs. The following are the inputs, processes and outputs are the things that we can find in Tai Kong Po.
Firstly, let us talk about the input system. Both physical inputs as well as cultural inputs can be founding in Tai Ko Po. • Physical Input • Climate • warm temperature • sufficient rainfall and sunshine • Land • gentle relief or slope • Lowland • Water supply from streams and underground water • Cultural Input • Labour---farmer • Transport---near to different secondary road • Market---products can be send to the market for sell • The use of fertilizers and pesticides
Different processes and outputs can also be found in Tai Kong Po Processes • The processes included sowing, ploughing, planting, watering, weeding and harvesting Farmers can improve land conditions by fallowing Outputs • After a certain period of time, crops are ready for the market. Farmers will sell most of the produce in the market and they will also consume the product themselves. • Some of the farming systems also produce waste. When waste is passed on to the surroundings, it often results in pollution e.g. washing of pesticides from fields to streams.
Characteristic Of The Farming Activities In Tai Kong Po There are many different ways to classify farming. One approach is based on the way in which a farming system is organized. • The intensity of land use in Tai Kong Po is extensive farming. The input per land area is low, not much capital and labor is used for farming. The farm size in Tai Kong Po is about 100 m square, it is very small. Also, the level of mechanization is low. They have no evidence of farm mechanization except sprinklers. • The types of crops in Tai Kong Po mainly are vegetables and fruits. For example, there are spring onion, banana, longan and litchi. Most of the crops are for sale. The use of output is mainly commercial farming. • While some of the output is subsistence farming, that means some of the crops are for self-consumption.
Factors Favorable For Farming Activities Here? There are several factors that favorable for the farming in Tai Ko Po. Human factors • Transport • Farmers need transport systems to send the produce to markets. • There are several secondary roads which lead to the main road. As the accessibility is higher, produces are easily transport to the market.
Natural Factors • Climatic factors • Climate largely controls what crops we can grow and the potential yield of a field. • Crops grow well in Tai Kong Po because: • 1. Temperature is above 6˚C, the longer the frost-free period, the longer the growing season; • 2. There is adequate rainfall, with little seasonal variation • 3. It is not too windy; • 4. There are no extreme weather conditions such as torrential rain, frost etc. • Land factor • The soil, relief and drainage of the lands affect the types of crop grown, method of the farming and the production of the field. • Relief • The altitude of Tai Kong Po is not so high. It is favourable for farming • The land in Tai Kong Po is very gentle. It favoutable for farming.
Constraints Faced By The Farmers Here • The pest destroys the farmland. • Also there are some water problems. For example, water pollution, and because of the polluted water, there is a problem of lake of water. • On the other hand, the farmland haven’t got good sewage discharge system. Serious flooding may occurred.
What are the measures the farmers used to deal with the constraints? • The farmers also faces many competitions, this is also a constraints to the farmers. To solve the problems, farmers can change to organic farming to provide healthier food for attracting customers and gain more money.
Farmers can solve the problem of lack of water by irrigation. This provides a reliable water source for farmland. There are many irrigation methods, such as building of large-scale water projects. Dams can be built to store water, which is transported to farmers by canals and aqueducts. • Apart from using pesticides, farmers can use some organic method to get rid of pest. Using fewer pesticides but adapting to organic method can also cause less pollution.
Constraints Faced By The Farmers Here - - - Flooding Flood Prevention Measures In Tai Kong Po • Tai Kong Po has been using sprinkler systems as the irrigation method. When the irrigation canals are blocked by rubbish or stuck with waste, flooding would occur. To solve the problem, several drainage channels are successfully operating. • Also, widening and straightening the Kam Tin River have reduced the risk of flooding. • The government has been working out to develop river training schemes so as to reduce the risk of flooding. Three river training projects are under construction in the Kam Tin basin in order to prevent flooding. • Constant maintenance and cleaning of existing stream, river courses and drainage systems are under operation, the farmland would not suffer serious flooding.
Abandoned Farm During the trip, we found many abandoned farm in Tai Kong Po. Why there are so many abandoned farm there? • As the farmers who own some farmland close to the main route think that the government will soon buy their land for develop, then they are not willing to farm anyone. Therefore the farmland will become abandoned farms.
Methods To Solve The Problem • The farmlands, which are classified as abandoned land, would not be used. To make better use of these abandoned farms, farmers would use them as temporary car-repair workshops. Besides, the abandoned land can be used as container storage space. • By the speculation of abandoned land, farmers could even attempt to make a profit from it. • Abandoned land can be used as industrial land use. Such as developing industrial estate.
Rural Development • Apart from visiting the farm, we had also visited some town in Tai Kong Po. The aim of this is letting us to know more about the rural development in Tai Kong Po. We discovered that different towns there can be classified as different level. And as the rural development is so rapid there, we all agree that we may not have the chance to see the same things and view there.
We had visited three market towns on that day The 3 Market Towns- Shek Wu Tong, Kam Tin Market Town & Tai Kong Po.
Conclude with the above point, we can say that the Kam Tin Market Town is the highest in order • Kam Tin Market Town • As Kam Tin Market Town is along the main route the transportation accessibility here is higher. • Therefore it is convenient for the people who live here and so there are many shops along this place • The settlement pattern in Kam Tin Market Town is nucleated while in Tai Kong Po the settlement pattern is isolated • All these are making Kam Tin Market Town be more flourishing.
Favourable Factors That Encourage Rural Development Here • Environmental factors • Fresh air & Less Pollutions • As there is less pollution in the rural areas, the air is comparatively fresher there. It attracts many people moving in. • Simple lifestyle • Simple and peaceful lifestyle can be found there. It attracts people who hate busy life to move in. • Large piece of land • There are large pieces of flat land. People who are afraid of crowd environment in city may like to move in the rural areas.
Economic factor • Lower land price • The price of land there is comparatively lower, so the price of houses are also lower. People are also interested in opening there shops there because of the low land price. • It also encourage the property agencies here.
From the trip and the internet, we know that there is an increasing number of motor car services companies, wood “factories” & property agencies in Kam Tim. We have find several reasons for this situation. • Motor can services companies. Wood ‘factories’ need a lot of areas to run their business. The land price in Kam Tin is lower than the land price in urban areas. So the motor car services companies and wood ‘factories’ tends to buy the land and start their business in Kam Tin. This resulting the increasing number of motor car services companies and wood ‘factories’.
For the property agencies, there are a lot of plenty areas in Kam Tin. Quite a lot of people like to buy land or house in there because the land price is much lower than that urban areas. So it has a big potential to develop real business.as a result in increasing of property agencies.
Rural Settlement & Land Uses Change In The Furture • Reduction in size and numbers of farmland. • Repaid population and economic growth in Hong Kong have resulted in the expansion of urban areas. This expansion has occurred in the surrounding rural areas. Fewer and smaller farmland can be found in the rural area, the land use will change from farming to tertiary industries, e.g. shops. • More abandoned land • Because young people are unwilling to work as farmers, a lot of farmland in Hong Kong has been abandoned. For example, in Kam Tin, some of the abandoned is being used as temporary car-repair workshops or container storage spare. Some of the farmers attempt to make a profit from the land through speculation.
Building new town • The repaid rise in population and economic development has increased demands for urban land. Since the 1970s, the government has stored to develop new towns in the rural areas. Besides having public housing estates, there are also shopping centers industrial areas, social facilities and large town parks in these new towns. • Developing low-density residential areas • As land prices in rural areas are cheaper, and the transport network in Hong Kong has been improved, private developers have became interested in developing the sub-urban into low-density residential areas. Hong Lok Yuen and Maring Cave are examples of these areas.
Building industrial estates • Some rural areas have been converted into industrial land use and large industrial estates, such as Yuen Long Industrial Estate. • The above changes are the effects of urban sprawl, urban encroachment, urban sprawl and suburbanization. • Urban sprawl • This refers to the unplanned expansion of urban areas into nearby rural areas. It often occurs along the main roads. Areas where urban sprawl occurs have mixed urban land uses and farmland. It causes a reduction in the amount of farmland and a decline in rural environmental conditions.
Special Terms that describe the rural development • Urban encroachment • This refers to the situation in which urban population and economic activitieexpand in to rural areas. The original land uses in rural areas are changed to urban land uses. To rural, the loss of farmland is an evidence of urban encroachment. To urban people, however, this phenomenon is simply urban sprawl, a necessary part of urban development. • Suburbanization • Suburbanization originally referred to the process in which more and more middle-income groups moved to the suburbs. However, suburbs in Hong Kong attract not only middle-income groups. Therefore, suburbanization is a widely-used term for the process of people moving from the city center to the suburbs. It is a neutral term with no positive or negative meaning.
Our Reflection • In this field trip, our group has learned lots of things. They are not only the geography’s knowledge, also the teamwork. We are happy about that. We went to some check points and have an exploration. They are an observatory in Tsuen Kam Road, Shek Wu Tong, Tai Kong Po and Kam Tin Market Town respectively. • In the observatory in Tsuen Kam Road, we needed to use the compass and map to find out where we were, here are some map reading skills. It is very interesting. This is the first time to use the compass and the map together. As one of our group member know that the degree on the compass is to use to find the bearing of a point with the rope on the compass. We think it is useful when we lose one’s way. • In Shek Wu Tong, we walked a while. In there, it looks like the mainland. Some buildings are still building. The buildings are very short. And the store and salon are look very old.
Tai Kong Po has lots of farmland. The farmland is very small in area and there are lots of them are abandoned farms. In there, we found a lot of problems. We can guess why there are lots of abandoned farms. One of the reasons is the water pollution. It makes the farmer can’t do farming in there. Even they can farm, the process won’t be good. Also, Tai Kong Po is less density of people. Maybe they left there for a while because they can’t do self-sufficiency. So they need to go to the town and have a job to live. When we were walking, one of our group members fell down. Luckily, she did not get hurt. • Finally, we went to Kam Tin Market Town. It is better than Tai Kong Po a lot. Although it is a small town, it still has a lot of shops. For example supermarket, restaurant, salon, post-office, jockey club etc. So it has more people to live in Kam Tin Market Town than Tai Kong Po. It has a funny shop. After we watched the signboard of the shop, we think it is Seven-Eleven. But we were wrong. It is Eleven-Eleven. • All in all, we learned lots of things in this field trip. They are some geography’s knowledge, map reading skills and teamwork. Also, when we had our trip, the weather was very good. It was sunny. So we can see a lot of good views. They were beautiful. We hope we will have the field trip in the future.
