As he looks on 50 of his jujube trees withering from shoddy pesticide, Liu Yuli, a local farmer in Yugou Town of east China's Anhui Province, sobbed. Planted last Spring, the tree saplings made up almost all of Liu's capital. In the following months, Liu took up the tough fight to protect his rights as a consumer.
In recent days, Liu has felt vindicated, as local commercial departments took the fake pesticide off the market. The batch of shoddy pesticides nibbled away 400,000 jujube trees owned by 8,700households in the province, and caused some 100,000 yuan (US$121,000) of loss for them. The case has been filed to the judiciary organization in the province.
"From my case, I witness the will of the local government to crack down on shoddy products and protect our interests," said Liu. So was he even compensated.
In 2004, Anhui Province, with a rural population of 40 million, dealt with 1,270 cases involving shoddy and fake seeds, 800 cases of pesticides and 700 of fertilizer.
In the neighboring Henan Province, also a major grain base in the country, the local government has also paced up efforts on cracking-down. In the past three years, the province dealt with 17,000 cases of shoddy farming materials, retrieving economic losses of 380 million yuan (US$46 million) for farmers.
At present, China is entering the spring plowing period and farmers across the country are busy purchasing fertilizers, pesticides and seed strains. The quality of farming materials has caused increased attention in the country.
"The country will continue cracking down on fake and shoddy goods for farming use this year," Minister of Agriculture Du Qinglin pledged last week.
According to Du, his ministry and several other departments, including the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Checks and Quarantine, will launch a thorough check on rural markets, focusing on seed strains, pesticides, fertilizers, fodder and animal medicine.
(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2005)
