Authorities crack down on sales of fake seeds

The authorities have seized more than 10 million kilograms of fake and inferior seeds in the past three years amid enhanced market supervision, said a senior agricultural official.

Yu Xinrong, vice-minister of agriculture, said at a news conference on Tuesday that the ministry will work with the public security, industrial and commercial departments to crack down on sales of inferior seeds to protect farmers' interests.

In the past three years, authorities have seized nearly 20,000 cases of fake and inferior seeds, according to the ministry.

In a recent five-month campaign, police caught 26 suspects who allegedly sold counterfeit seeds in Jilin and Henan provinces and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Yu said.

Agriculture authorities will keep a close eye on the seed market as well as seed companies, and those who sell fake and inferior seeds will be punished severely, he said.

The ministry will push for the establishment of a cultivation base in Hainan province and a corn seed research base in Gansu province, Yu added.

According to the ministry, the World Seeds Conference will be held in Beijing on May 26, and more than 1,180 foreign delegates have registered to attend.

China has been enhancing cooperation in seed trade in recent years. The export volume of China's seeds was worth $300 million last year.

Chinese companies have traded grain and vegetable seeds with 146 countries and regions, and trade with African and Central Asian countries will be boosted, the ministry said.

Zhang Yanqiu, head of the ministry's Seeds Management Bureau, said that 15 percent of the vegetables in China are grown using foreign seeds.