Chinese garlic growers clash with officials as crops dug up
Authorities in southwestern county ordered all plants to be removed in bid to prevent nearby lake being polluted by fertiliser
Villagers in southwest China clashed with officials on Sunday in a dispute over their right to grow garlic on a plot of land where, according to local authorities, the over use of fertiliser had polluted a local lake.
The argument began in August when growers in Eryuan county, Yunnan province, were told they would no longer be able to use the site for planting, but would be compensated for their losses, Chinese news portal Thepaper.cn reported.
According to a government notice issued on August 28, households would be paid 1,200 yuan (US$175) for each mu (7,200 square feet) of garlic they had already cultivated, and 600 yuan for each mu they were planning to use but had not yet planted.
Farmers, however, said they had been growing garlic in the area for nearly two decades and that the compensation was insufficient.
Officials on Saturday warned locals they would start pulling up the garlic plants the following day, but tempers flared in the town of Sanying when they arrived at the site with excavators and weeding machines.