Regulation and Policy 

China Warns Farmers Not to Use Unregistered Fertilizers (June 1, 1999)

Chinese farmers are warned not to use unregistered fertilizers because they may cause economic losses and threaten the safety of agricultural production. "Some illegal vendors recently promoted, via mass media, unregistered fertilizers as high-tech products, and under the names of authoritative departments," Ministry of Agriculture official Wang Jindeng was quoted as saying by the China Daily. This caused chaos within fertilizer science research and resulted in heavy losses to many enterprises and farmers, Wang, a division director of the ministry, added. The situation prompted the ministry to issue an urgent circular over the weekend. It stressed fertilizer products, especially bacterial manure, should be registered by the ministry before they enter the market.  

Bacterial manure, which is environmentally friendly and helps improve quality of crops, has been used in China for nearly 50 years. However, some bacterial manure contain pathogenic microbes, which may cause the spread of diseases among animals, plants and people in areas where they were applied, notes Ge Cheng, an official with the ministry's Bacterial Manure Quality Inspection Center.  

The registration system is a key component in China's efforts to prevent pathogenic microbes from endangering people's health and harming agricultural and animal husbandry production, Ge said. Ministry officials are urging bacterial manure manufacturers,and other fertilizer-related enterprises, to register their products as soon as possible.