The Ministry of Agriculture and other three ministries continue to join hands to crack down on seed counterfeiting to ensure agricultural production.

On January 21, the reporter learned from the special action video conference held in Beijing by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce to crack down on the infringement of variety rights and the production and sale of fake and shoddy seeds, that this year, the three ministries and commissions will continue to carry out special actions against seed counterfeiting. Yu Xinrong, vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, stressed at the meeting that seed anti-counterfeiting should be carried out continuously in accordance with the principle of curing both the symptoms and the root causes and comprehensive treatment, maintain the high-pressure situation of strict investigation and crackdown, and strive to ensure the safety of seeds used in agricultural production. Chen Xiaohua, vice minister of agriculture, presided over the meeting.

The meeting identified five major tasks for the supervision of the seed market this year. First, highlight the focus of supervision and pay close attention to problem enterprises and problem markets. It is necessary to focus on supervision and full coverage inspection of the problem enterprises, markets and stores that have been mastered, as well as the varieties of packaging operation of these enterprises. The second is to highlight the management of the source of production and implement the responsibility of territorial subjects. The Ministry of Agriculture will conduct annual inspection and biennial assessment on the supervision of state-level seed production bases. For those who fail to pass the inspection for two consecutive years, their national base qualifications, financial reward and subsidy policies and infrastructure construction projects will be cancelled, and the assessment results will be made public. Third, highlight the investigation and handling of major and important cases and publicly expose illegal enterprises. For major typical cases, it is necessary to join the public security and industrial and commercial departments to list and supervise them. It is necessary to investigate and deal with cases strictly and quickly in accordance with the law, and if they constitute a crime, they should be transferred to the public security organs in a timely manner, and cases should be resolutely put an end to punishment instead of punishment. Through the news media to publicly expose illegal activities to deter lawbreakers. Fourth, highlight variety management and promote the reform of variety management system. Varieties that have major defects, do not submit standard samples and have no production area should be resolutely withdrawn. Strengthen the examination and approval of varieties suitable for mechanized operation, light simplification of planting and wide application of multi-resistance. Fifth, highlight the innovation of supervision mechanism and improve the long-term mechanism of seed anti-counterfeiting. Establish a variety identity information identification management system to shift the focus of supervision from prior permission to mid-and post-event supervision. Continue to expand the scope of seed quality traceability pilot, promote the application of e-commerce platform, and guide enterprises to carry out entrusted management.

The meeting demanded that all localities should strengthen organizational leadership and implement principal responsibilities; strengthen supervision and promotion of accountability and implement territorial responsibilities; standardize law enforcement actions and strengthen governance according to law; and attach great importance to the disclosure of information on seed cases, ensure that seed cases are made public in a timely manner, create an atmosphere of supervision by public opinion, pay close attention to the implementation of tasks in the spirit of hammering nails, and ensure that the order of the seed market is significantly improved.

In 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture, together with the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, organized a special campaign to crack down on seed counterfeiting. The three departments jointly launched attacks and jointly handled cases among provinces, investigated and dealt with more than 6400 cases, revoked the licenses of 31 enterprises, transferred 115 judicial cases, and punished 34 criminal suspects. The safe supply of improved varieties has effectively ensured the needs of seeds used in agricultural production and made an important contribution to the "eleventh consecutive increase" of grain output.