In the first half of this year, China's agricultural departments at all levels helped farmers to retrieve losses of 850 million yuan (US$105 million ) through cracking down upon production and marketing of counterfeit and shoddy farm materials including seeds, pesticides, fertilizer, feedstuff and veterinary medicine.
  
The Ministry of Agriculture announced Tuesday that counterfeit and shoddy farm materials totaling 45,000 tons have been captured, involving 270 million yuan (US$33.29 million).
  
In the first half of this year, a total of 25,941 cases concerning counterfeit and shoddy farm materials were investigated and dealt with accordingly, with more than 1,700 hideouts destroyed, according to the ministry. 

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2005)