Hong Kong’s FarmFest 2020 opened at Fa Hui Park in Mong Kok on 3 January 2020 and ran until January 5 and showcased HK agritech. The exhibitors showcased a variety of local agricultural and fisheries products.
Jointly organised by the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department, the Vegetable Marketing Organization and the Fish Marketing Organization, the three-day event accommodated more than 380 stalls selling local produce, delicacies, organic or healthy food, kitchenware and household goods.
The theme of Hong Kong’s FarmFest 2020 is agriculture and fisheries technologies.
The agricultural zone focuses on promoting precision agriculture and introduces the vegetable factory and smart greenhouse, including the grow light system with a tuneable spectrum and nano-bubble technology to enhance plant growth.
The event also illustrates how farmers can monitor real-time conditions in greenhouses through smartphone applications and remotely control facilities in greenhouses.
The fisheries zone introduces the deep-sea cage culture model, a real-time phytoplankton monitoring system and pearl farming.
There are also music and cultural performances, cooking demonstrations and interactive games.
To tie in with the green event guidebook by the Environmental Protection Department and the Business Environment Council, this year’s FarmFest provides recycling facilities and a reusable tableware rental service to achieve waste reduction and clean recycling.
Pushing Greentech Across Hong Kong
In August 2019, OpenGov Asia reported that the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) received funding to establish Hong Kong’s first research platform focusing on urban agriculture – the Suga Research Laboratory for Sustainable Urban Green Agriculture.
The lab will serve as an information hub to make greater contributions in urban agriculture development in Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area and the Mainland, the Laboratory will help foster a “Healthy Eating” culture and safeguard public health.
The mission of the Laboratory is to develop the next generation of Urban Agriculture model to cultivate high quality and safe fruits and vegetables in a small indoor space, with hydroponics as a focus.
The two research directions include the investigation of the optimal correlation between major environmental factors and the growth of hydroponics vegetables, as well as the systematic assessment of food safety risk, harmful chemicals and food-borne bacteria in vegetables grown from hydroponics and traditional farming.
Later, in September 2019, OpenGov Asia reported that the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency launched a Green Finance Certification Scheme – Green Fund to provide third-party conformity assessments on green funds.
It encourages investors from the fund market to support green projects and enhances the transparency of the investment process.
The scheme was developed with reference to a number of pertinent international and national standards.
Following the successful implementation of the certification scheme for green debt instruments in 2018, the extension to green funds will further strengthen market confidence in green financial products, in line with the government’s ongoing commitment to developing Hong Kong into a leading hub for green finance and technology in the region.
Hong Kong has seen an increasing number of funds with an investment focus on climate, green, environmental or sustainable development in Hong Kong in recent years.
Encouraged by this, the government will continue to support the certification scheme and encourage more local, Mainland and overseas entities to make use of it and our capital markets for financing their green projects.