China's agricultural authorities announced on Wednesday that a yearlong crackdown on counterfeit production materials helped block about 1.6 billion yuan (US$225.4 million) worth of goods from reaching the market last year.

"The market order continued to improve last year, with the number of complaints from farmers decreasing by 20.6 percent from a year earlier," the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement.

Local agricultural departments across the country smashed 3,280 workshops making counterfeit production materials, such as fake fertilizers, pesticides and seeds, in 36,000 cases last year, it said.

The ministry vowed to guarantee an adequate supply of production materials at "proper" prices to ensure farm production would go smoothly this year. The harsh winter, however, had dealt a serious blow to crops in many regions, especially southern China.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2008)