Afraid of buying fake seeds, farmers try multiple varieties like running experiments

Li Zhongming, a farmer from Qing'an County in Suihua City, went around more than 10 dealerships in the Heilongjiang Provincial Seed Market but still could not find suitable seeds. Li Zhongming told the Economic Information Daily reporter that his family has more than 4 shang (one shang equals 15 mu) of land, and in recent years he would choose eight or nine corn varieties; because he bought seeds of poor quality last year, this year he plans to choose several more.

As the Northeast enters the peak period of spring plowing preparations, the reporter recently visited the Heilongjiang Provincial Seed Market in Harbin and saw about 100 corn seed dealerships there. Not only farmers from around Harbin come here to buy seeds, but also farmers from places such as Suihua and Qiqihar.

Many farmers said that because they are afraid of buying fake seeds, they all choose several varieties to try. "No one dares to say that for more than one shang of land, or two shang of land, they would buy only one variety. Now there are so many corn seed types, and choosing seeds every year is the most headache-inducing thing." said Wang Xiaoliang, a farmer from Baiquan County in Qiqihar City. For one shang of land, he might choose six or seven varieties, "buy a few more kinds, and if they are fake, just plant an acre or so and forget about it."

Li Zhongming said the market has a huge variety of seeds, and it is impossible to tell which are good and which are bad, but based on experience, every year some of the corn planted will more or less have problems. As spring plowing is approaching, almost no one prepares only one or two varieties. "Farming is about the same as doing seed experiments. Who would take this risk? If others buy it, we follow and buy it; if no one buys it, we dare not buy a new variety."

Choosing six or seven corn seeds for one shang of land shows how worried farmers are about seed quality. Further interviews by the Economic Information Daily reporter found that it is precisely the frequent occurrence in recent years of poor seeds affecting yields, or even causing total crop failure, that has left farmers full of misgivings when choosing seeds.

In Lanxi County, a major corn-growing county, the county seed law enforcement brigade handles 3 to 4 fake seed cases every year. According to Xia Yuanquan, deputy head of the seed law enforcement brigade of the Lanxi County Agriculture Bureau, last year some farmers in Kangrong Township and Bei'an Township of Lanxi County planted fake corn seeds, and as a result only stalks grew and no ears formed. By autumn harvest, the farmers had no choice but to sell the corn they had planted as silage feed, involving more than 100 farming households in total.

A sales manager at a large seed company in Heilongjiang told the reporter that cultivating a variety takes about 10 years and requires multiple trials such as tests for lodging resistance, drought resistance and plumpness, but many companies enter the market early without approval from provincial-level departments. "Many seed companies are selling unapproved seeds. These seeds are called lines, not varieties. They easily cause yield reductions and are an important source of fake and inferior seeds," the manager said.

The reporter learned from the Heilongjiang Seed Administration Bureau that in 2014 the province intercepted and returned 279,800 kg of seeds suspected of having problems from neighboring provinces, and filed and investigated 17 cases of unapproved, fake and inferior seeds. Last year, the Seed Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture made unannounced visits in Shuangcheng City and Tailai County of Heilongjiang Province and took 82 corn seed samples. Testing showed that 53 samples failed the authenticity test for their varieties. Agricultural experts believe that the repeated failure to stop fake and inferior seeds has exposed loopholes in business supervision.

The low threshold for seed market entry is an important reason for the endless emergence of counterfeit and inferior products in our country's seed industry market. "Now a seed company with registered capital of 1 million yuan can act as an agent to sell seed varieties, and an enterprise with registered capital of 5 million yuan can produce and operate one seed variety within a provincial scope. This threshold is too low, creating conditions for those enterprises that deal in fake and inferior seeds and packaged-label seeds," a shop owner in the Heilongjiang Provincial Seed Market told the reporter.

⟦NL> In addition, it is difficult to determine responsibility in fake seed cases, and farmers "cannot afford to drag it out," so they often give up defending their rights. Cheng Yong, head of the Zhaoyuan County seed law enforcement brigade, said: "In fake and inferior seed cases, if arbitration or judicial procedures are pursued, it takes at least one year and at most three years. Because the technical appraisal process is very long, farmers cannot afford to drag it out and finally give up their rights."