China cracks down on seeds counterfeiting

BEIJING -- A government official in charge of agricultural matters on Friday announced a crackdown on market violations concerning grain seeds.

The strike action, jointly launched on Friday by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration for Industry and commerce, comes as a government report revealed earlier on Friday that China's grain output grew 2.1 percent year-on-year in 2013 to hit 601.94 million tons, marking the 10th annual output gain.

Yu Xinrong, vice minister of agriculture, said that the campaign will target infringements upon seed variety rights, and the production as well as sales of counterfeit seeds, with corn and rice seeds to be the major categories to be checked on the market.

Illegal businesses will have their business licenses revoked while violators will be punished according to the laws, Yu said.

He also urged local authorities to beef up checks on designated seed categories in efforts to eliminate disqualified varieties.

Such overhauls and strike efforts will continue next year, the official added.