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Expert laments overuse of chemicals by Chinese farmers
By Yang Jian |
May 27, 2011, Friday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
CHINESE farmers are using the double amount of farm chemicals than their peers in most developed countries, the Legal Daily reported today.
And they are using 100 times more fertilizers compared with 60 years ago. In the past 20 years, a total of 1 million tons of farm chemicals has been sprayed on crops, Jiang Gaoming, a researcher with the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the newspaper.
"The use of chemicals is threatening food safety and polluting the soil and underground water," he said.
"The use of chemicals per hectare should be kept under 225 kilograms according to the international standard, but Chinese farmers use 434.3 kilograms per hectare," he said.
Jiang said at least half of the chemicals were unnecessary such as plant hormone that was found in watermelons grown in Jiangsu Province.
He said the utilization ratio of farm chemicals was about 40 percent in China; the rest became pollutants.
The expert urges farmers to use animal manure as fertilizer because the country produces some 2.7 billion tons of animal wastes.
Ever since a media report that watermelons grown in Jiangsu Province burst themselves in the field due to improper use of a plant hormone, consumers in Shanghai and other parts of China have shunned the seasonal fruit.
Shanghai Fruit Farmers Association assured local people that no plant hormone has been found in use by local watermelon farmers.
And they are using 100 times more fertilizers compared with 60 years ago. In the past 20 years, a total of 1 million tons of farm chemicals has been sprayed on crops, Jiang Gaoming, a researcher with the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the newspaper.
"The use of chemicals is threatening food safety and polluting the soil and underground water," he said.
"The use of chemicals per hectare should be kept under 225 kilograms according to the international standard, but Chinese farmers use 434.3 kilograms per hectare," he said.
Jiang said at least half of the chemicals were unnecessary such as plant hormone that was found in watermelons grown in Jiangsu Province.
He said the utilization ratio of farm chemicals was about 40 percent in China; the rest became pollutants.
The expert urges farmers to use animal manure as fertilizer because the country produces some 2.7 billion tons of animal wastes.
Ever since a media report that watermelons grown in Jiangsu Province burst themselves in the field due to improper use of a plant hormone, consumers in Shanghai and other parts of China have shunned the seasonal fruit.
Shanghai Fruit Farmers Association assured local people that no plant hormone has been found in use by local watermelon farmers.
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