Pengzhou city, one of the five national vegetable production bases, has recently built a pesticide residue examination center to make sure vegetables are not polluted.

Rao Minshuang, director of the vegetable production bureau of the local government, said that to promote the vegetables better on the international market, international standards for the examination of vegetables to see if they are pollution-free must be introduced.

In future, the type and the quantity of chemical pesticides used will be strictly limited as required by international standards.

The new examination center will check every step in the vegetable growing process to ensure noxious pesticides are not used.

Pengzhou, 36 kilometers (about 22 miles) north of Chengdu, capital city of southwest china's Sichuan province, is claimed to be home of commercial vegetable in west China.

Last year, the city produced 1.2 billion kilograms(2.645 billion pounds) of vegetables and sold 760 million kilograms (1675 million pounds), earning 700 million yuan (US$ 84.5 million).

Vegetable growing has become a major primary industry in the city.

Last year, the average per capita income of the residents was 1,100 yuan (US$ 133), up 124 yuan (US$ 15) from the previous year. One third of residents earn their living from vegetable growing.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2002)