China will strengthen its efforts to crack down on fake agricultural means of production in 2005, Minister of Agriculture Du Qinglin said Monday.

Du made the remarks at a consultation conference in Xianghe County, north China's Hebei Province, on the eve of the International Day for Protecting Consumers' Rights.

"Cadres and technical staff in charge of the agricultural section should go to peasants' houses to send genuine seeds, pesticide, fertilizer, forage, feed, fishing tackle and inform them of relevant laws and knowledge about how to distinguish the genuine and fake," Du said.

Li Jiarui, a peasant, said he did not expect such high-ranking officials to attend the conference.

"Many people in my village have suffered from fake seeds and pesticide, which led to no harvest at all that year," Li said, adding: "I'm concerned about the government's visible action."

Agricultural, rural and farmers' concerns are the focus of the central government's work in 2005, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in his presentation made to the Third Session of the Tenth National People's Congress on March 5.

In 2004, China seized 9.9 million kilograms of fake or inferior pesticide, 15.8 million kg of inferior seeds and 79,000 tons of inferior fertilizer, helping peasants retrieve 1.6 billion yuan (190 million US dollars) of loss, according to statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Source: Xinhua