Editorial | Authorities must keep up the fight against counterfeit seeds
- The constant pressure to find ever-better crops has resulted in low-quality and counterfeit seeds dominating the market in mainland China. The government, industry and researchers need to stay focused on an issue that is only deepening concerns about long-term food security
Seeds have grown into a big problem for China as counterfeits continue circulating in the mainland agriculture market despite high-level efforts to stop the trade. The government, industry and researchers need to stay focused on an issue that is only deepening concerns about long-term food security.
For thousands of years, humans have used crossbreeding and more recently genetic modifications that have steadily tamed once-wild plants into food crops. Such efforts can improve everything from production efficiency to the taste of the produce.
Seed innovation is increasingly crucial for feeding an expanding global population with crops that can withstand infections, insects or the unpredictable effects of climate change. The constant pressure to find ever-better crops has even given rise to seed theft or counterfeiting.
Low-quality and counterfeit seeds now dominate the mainland market, which faces huge challenges because law enforcers and farmers alike often struggle to tell real from fake.
Market chaos is reflected in the fact that only about 100 of the more than 7,300 crop seed breeders in China are listed as capable of doing independent research and development, according to the state-owned magazine China Newsweek. Mainland authorities started prioritising a fight against seed counterfeiters in 2021 with a “market clean-up” and “seed industry revitalisation plan”. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said more than 800 crop seeds registered with authorities have since been cancelled for being copies of popular plant breeds.
President Xi Jinping told a national farming conference last year that seed breeding was one of two “crucial points” in agricultural production for the world’s most populous nation and biggest food importer. The nation’s need for biotechnological breakthroughs has only increased since food supplies were disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and as ties worsened with the United States and its allies – many of which are food exporters.