When a
Chinese person had dinner at a high court cafeteria in Shaanxi province two
years ago, he was informed that the court had its private farm located 30km
from Xi'an and the produce grown on site was absolutely safe, according to an
unknown source reported in the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekly.
Other
sources revealed that another secret garden in Guangdong province grew not only
organic produce, but also raised pigs, fish, chickens and ducks.
The weekly
reported that the 103 suppliers selected during the 2008 Beijing Olympics
continued to be closely connected with government officials and organizations
even after the Olympics.
The owner
of the New Century Breeding Farm in Beijing, surnamed Sun, who provided chicken
eggs for the Olympics, said that since water supply, livestock feed and air
quality at his farm passed government tests a decade ago, he has been supplying
products to central government officials.
Surrounded
by 2m-high walls and secured by five guards, the Beijing Customs Vegetable Farm
and Country Club, which supplies organic vegetables to Beijing customs
officials, stretches for more than 200 hectares. The weekly reported that the
farm has provided vegetables exclusively to the customs office for more than a
decade.
To avoid
chemical pollution, animal waste is used as fertilizer and pesticides sprayed
in the farms are also organic. Agricultural produce from such farms are real
organic products and the safety of the food is emphasized.
Qi Yanming,
former deputy secretary-general of the State Council, rephrased the wording of
a report from July 1960 on food supplies for senior officials and intellectuals
from "non-staple food supplement" to "special supply."
Since then, "special supply" has become a mysterious and prestigious
term in the public domain, the weekly pointed out.
A source
close to the matter revealed that, in addition to the food provided in
cafeterias at government organizations, the households of some food officials
are also stocked by such farms.
At these
prestigious farms, files on vegetables are as detailed as those on personnel
management. All details, from the planting date to pesticides used, are well
documented.
Tight
controls have also been implemented to monitor the quality. If any of the links
were found to be sub-standard, the farm would be disqualified from
participating in the prestigious program, the report said.
Farmers
selected to provide produce for officials told the weekly that "it is an
honor to be selected and the inclusion also guarantees income."
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment