$29m fake agricultural materials found

China found about 200 million yuan ($29 million) worth of fake and shoddy agricultural production materials such as pesticides and fertilizers last year, the country's quality watchdog said yesterday.

In 15,714 cases of producing and marketing substandard agricultural materials, officials helped farmers recover direct losses of more than 94 million yuan, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its website.

More than 210,000 quality supervisors checked 22,631 companies in the campaign aimed to boost grain production and farmers' income, the statement said.