It might be possible... I've had games where I didn't need to get L2 Farming before I was ready for L3 Farming, but I forget where I was with the other Tech & Puzzles at the time...

I'm currently running a game with a population of 9, but with L2 Farming, that I may be able to complete the gong without needing L3 Farming.

I managed to finish the gong with a village that did not purchase Level 2 or 3 farming, but that one only had a population of 5: it took a while, but they did it.

That was a problem village, though -- lost the women and children early to famine, so much of the early building was by the 3 original men. A girl came via an island event, but she gave birth to only daughters. Those 5 women finished the remaining necessary tech and gathered all the gong pieces (farming not being necessary to get gong pieces, they didn't bother with it).

-- jen

for more tech points in the early days of the game, find a uncommon or rare collectable , pause game grab as many kids as you can as quick as poss

and watch your tech points, if you have a rare one and 5 kids get it thats 4000 tech points, you can only do it once per collectable then they just become items for the scientists but try it on your new game