CHONA CHONG
Chiu,
who married her husband in 1952, has three grown-up children. Unfortunately,
her husband went away and her children did not care about the vegetable field,
therefore she was the only one to manage the vegetable field- her property.
She has owned her property for 48 years.
"During the Second World War, my mother-in-law bought this field for MOP500,"Chiu sighed. "I want to give up on this vegetable field as my health is getting worse. I cannot run the field any longer," Chiu added.
Chiu, 60, disable woman due to excessive work since her youth. She has to rely on crutches, therefore, she employed a worker to cultivate the field.
In the vegetable field, she mainly plants romaine lettuce, leaf mustard Chinese parsley, kale and cabbage. All of these foods are well-liked by the people in Macau. However, as she is a unique farmer in Macau, it is expensive for her to buy the fertilizer and insecticide. This reduces her profits.
"There is a history to this vegetable field," said Mr U, the secretary of the Association of Agriculture of Macau. "Someone forcibly occupied the land for farming before the Second World War. Afterwards,that person sold it to Chiu's mother-in law," U continued.
With the development of the city, the government has used most of the farming fields for comercial purpose. For those fields which are not cultivated, the government will take them back. If a field is being farmed, the government will still take the land back, but will compensate the owner.
"I'm waiting for compensation from the government. With the money, I can buy a house," said Chiu who lives in a wooden house beside the field. When the rainy season comes, the field is flooded and all the crops die. The rain also floods Chiu's house.
"In
recent years,the government took back a nearby field for development. In the
past few months, some officers came here to check whether I am still cultivating
the vegetable field or not. I am, and I will continue. I don't know when I will
get compensation from the government," said Chiu.
Chiu's income is mainly the profits made from selling vegetables. Two vegetable vendors come to take her vegetables and sell them in the market.
Chiu is the only local farmer in Macau now. As a high concentration of insecticide will cause harm to human beings, she has to control how much insecticide she uses in order to avoid poisoning the plants.
"So far, not a single accident has been reported," U mentioned.
Every day she waters the field twice, once at three or four in the morning and again in the afternoon. In addition, the sprouts are too weak to stand the harsh sunshine, therefore Chiu uses a cloth to cover the sprouts to avoid the sunshine at noon.
"I am still waiting for the compensation from the government! I have to wait endlessly," Chiu sighed.
