The New Agricultural Policy of the HKSAR Government's Policy Address 2016 emphasizes the importance of agriculture in the sustainable development of Hong Kong and organic agriculture is being promoted as a sustainable option for the future development. Meanwhile, the Consumer Council's report on the sustainable consumption of our residents, published in 2016 indicates that we are poor in sustainable practice in our daily living. Therefore the overall goal of establishing the “Institute of Bioresource and Agriculture” (IBA) is to use Organic Agriculture as a vehicle to cultivate the sustainability in the general public, preserve the indigenous bioresource and biodiversity as well as to strengthen the agricultural development in Hong Kong.

Through Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited 150th Anniversary Charity Programme, the funding are donated to support signature projects for the betterment of the Hong Kong community. The proposal to establish the first IBA was successfully selected to be one of the beneficiaries of this programme with a donation of HK$37.26 million.

(08 September 2016) HKBU representatives attending the HSBC 150th Anniversary Charity Programme ceremony included Professor Roland T. Chin, President and Vice-Chancellor; Professor Jonathan Wong, Director of the Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre and Mrs. Lily Chan, Director of University Advancement.