Chongming wants to produce mostly 'green' food by 2020

Chongming District is striving to accelerate the full coverage of pollution-free green pesticides and have 90 percent of the food it produces accredited as "green" by 2020, district chief Li Zheng said at an international workshop on pesticide risk management on Tuesday.

The five-day workshop, co-organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, is being held in Chongming District and attended by guests from China and 10 other countries and international organizations.

In Li's opening remarks, he stated that Chongming has a green pesticide supply system with one warehouse and 16 outlets. There is also a traceability system for the pesticides established on the basis of the district's information management platform, covering production, demand, tests and supervision. The system can give intelligent management during the process of the pesticides' distribution and sale.

Li said the district has developed rice with neither chemical fertilizer nor chemical pesticides and that similar vegetables and fruit trees will also be planted as a trial run. Such products will be gradually promoted to the whole district.

Gu Baogen, senior program officer of the Plant Production and Protection Division (AGP) at FAO, said pesticides are a key part of agricultural production and that their management plays an important role in raising crop production, eliminating hunger, and promoting sustainable agricultural development.

Participants of the workshop will discuss topics like progress and challenges in pesticide risk management and the reduction of pesticide residue in the food supply chain, among other topics, over the next four days.