The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture has revoked registration certificates of 36 varieties of agricultural pesticides made by 30 companies, which means that these products will not be permitted to go on sale in the market.

An official with the Crop Growing Department of the ministry said this move was aiming to protect the interests of farmers from being infringed upon and help promote agricultural development.

The official acknowledged that most of these products were pesticides and bactericides for farm use. They were found to be of low quality during a national check on pesticides quality in 2003.Some of these products reached state standards and some were mixed with illegal additives, whereas some others were just fake products.

The ministry has asked local governments to continue their efforts to check on the quality of pesticides to protect farmers' interests, said the official.

Source: Xinhua