China will continue to crack down on fake and shoddy goods used for farming this year, said Du Qinglin, the country's Minister of Agriculture.

During a teleconference Friday, Du said the country is entering the spring plowing period and farmers are busy preparing farming materials, such as fertilizers, pesticides and seeds.

Government organizations should work together to protect farmers from buying shoddy and fake products, said Du, adding that the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (SAQIQ), will jointly launch a thorough check of the market.

Du said that seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, fodder and animal medicines will be the key areas of nationwide check.

He called on local agriculture departments to strengthen market supervision and to help farmers to distinguish fake products from real ones.

Du said that the MOA and the SAIC will jointly release an urgent notice in the next few days to launch a special action in China's seed market.

According to the SAIC, in 2004 China checked 162,800 companies who sold farming production materials, and discovered 31,389 cases involving fake products, helping to recover 256 million yuan for farmers.

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2005)