Across continents and cultures, farmers are rediscovering a simple truth: when we work with nature rather than against it, both people and ecosystems can thrive. As part of the Loving the Land Series, this cross-cultural online talk explores how regenerative agriculture offers practical, hopeful responses to communities’ pressing challenges.
The dialogue brings together Nancy Musa, a visiting Yidan Prize Summit fellow and an agricultural engineer representing the CAMFED Association, a pan-African network of young women leaders, and Tsz Lam Yip, Manager of the Regenerative Agriculture Department at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG). Nancy shares insights from rural Zimbabwe, where young women lead agricultural hubs, utilising climate-smart farming techniques to secure livelihoods and navigate traditional barriers to women’s land ownership. Tsz Lam contextualises these efforts within highly urbanised Hong Kong, illustrating how KFBG acts as a demonstration site for sustainable resource recovery and helps city residents overcome their disconnection from the natural environment.
By sharing the distinct perspectives, the conversation invites audiences to explore the broader possibilities of agriculture, not only as a means of food production, but as a pathway to build resilient communities and foster a healthier relationship with the natural world.
Nancy Musa
Agronomic Engineer, Entrepreneur and Youth Leader | CAMFED & Yidan Prize Summit Fellow
Nancy is from Zimbabwe, and her passion for transforming agriculture is rooted in her lived experience of poverty and her determination to create opportunities where they are limited. Having experienced firsthand how financial barriers can disrupt education and constrain potential, she is committed to building pathways that enable young people and women to thrive through education, enterprise and sustainable livelihoods. She is the founder and CEO of Novagra Incorporated, an enterprise advancing sustainable agriculture, food security and locally driven climate solutions that create economic opportunities for youth and women. She is driven by a goal to make farming productive and profitable without compromising human health or the environment.
Tsz Lam Yip（葉子林）
Manager, Regenerative Agriculture Department, KFBG
Tsz Lam was born to an ordinary peasant family. He is a former journalist, graduating from the department of sociology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1996. Engaged in the local organic agricultural sector for over 20 years, Tsz Lam possesses solid management experience in various production areas including orchard, vegetable farm, tea plantation and apiary. He also designs and conducts a range of agriculture courses, as well as organising projects, such as the farmers’ market, to promote local agriculture. Over the years, he has written and edited numerous publications, documenting the history and development of local agriculture and the New Territories.
Josephine Woo
Head of Holistic Education, KFBG
A lifelong nature educator and nature lover, Josephine is passionate about helping people reconnect with themselves, one another and the living world. Guided by an ecological worldview, she explores and shares ways of living with greater simplicity, presence and harmony with nature. Trained as a mindfulness teacher with Plum Village, she also holds a master's degree in Buddhist Counselling from the University of Hong Kong and is a certified Forest Therapy Guide (ANFT). Through her work, she integrates mindfulness, nature connection and holistic learning to nurture wellbeing and meaningful transformation.