The Kadoorie brothers, Lord Lawrence Kadoorie and Sir Horace Kadoorie, planted the seeds for Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden when they founded the Kadoorie Agricultural Aid Association in 1951. The aim of the association was to encourage the right mental outlook by "helping people to help themselves" through training, supply of agricultural inputs and interest-free loans. In 1956, the association established an experimental and extension farm at Pak Ngau Shek on the present site as a centre for demonstrating crop production and animal husbandry, improving livestock breeds and training local farmers and Hong Kong based Gurkha soldiers. Special breeds of pigs and chickens were developed which could cope with the local conditions.