Reports on 'bad' fruit misleading

CHENGDU: Only 12 tons of oranges were destroyed and less than 10 percent of the trees were damaged by fruit flies in Guangyuan, Sichuan province, the provincial agriculture department said on Tuesday.

It was discounting reports that 10,000 tons of oranges had to be destroyed.

On Monday, the Chengdu-based Huaxi Metropolis Daily reported that the local government paid growers 3 million yuan ($44,000) to purchase the oranges so that they could be destroyed.