Pengzhou city, one of the five national vegetable production bases,
has recently built a pesticide residue examination center to make
sure vegetables are not polluted.
Rao Minshuang, director of the vegetable production bureau of the
local government, said that to promote the vegetables better on the
international market, international standards for the examination
of vegetables to see if they are pollution-free must be
introduced.
In
future, the type and the quantity of chemical pesticides used will
be strictly limited as required by international standards.
The new examination center will check every step in the vegetable
growing process to ensure noxious pesticides are not used.
Pengzhou, 36 kilometers (about 22 miles) north of Chengdu, capital
city of southwest china's Sichuan province, is claimed to be home
of commercial vegetable in west China.
Last year, the city produced 1.2 billion kilograms(2.645 billion
pounds) of vegetables and sold 760 million kilograms (1675 million
pounds), earning 700 million yuan (US$ 84.5 million).
Vegetable growing has become a major primary industry in the
city.
Last year, the average per capita income of the residents was 1,100
yuan (US$ 133), up 124 yuan (US$ 15) from the previous year. One
third of residents earn their living from vegetable growing.
(Xinhua News
Agency March 7, 2002)