Crops and flowers depend on fertilizer. Farmers inevitably need to use chemical fertilizers when planting land, and if they encounter fake and inferior chemical fertilizers, let alone increase production, the crops may not grow well. However, in recent years, some chemical fertilizer "flickering groups" have been wandering around the countryside under the guise of "factory direct sales", and have drawn closer to each other by sending them by car, giving lectures to farmers, and inviting farmers to eat, so as to fool farmers into buying fake and shoddy agricultural materials out of their pockets, so that farmers have been injured a lot. Why can these fertilizer "flickering groups" be frequently successful? Multiple departments in Jingdezhen City, Jiangxi Province jointly cracked a case of making and selling fake fertilizers across provinces and cities, dug out the hidden gang behind it, and the "flickering group" fraud chain also surfaced.
March to May is the peak of agricultural material sales. But in recent years, in some places, from the beginning of spring ploughing, fertilizer "flickering groups" have come uninvited.
"I don't know where they got the number, so they called me and told me to go to the local restaurant, and he said to come here to eat and come and see our fertilizer." Hong Qinqian, a large grain grower in Changjiang District, Jingdezhen City, Jiangxi Province, said.
He said that he was invited to dinner, but when he arrived at the place, he had to go to class first. The so-called chemical fertilizers sold by the "flickering group" always claim to be better than compound fertilizers, but they are cheaper than regular compound fertilizers. What about the fertilizer you bought? There have been many things that have happened in the past few years.
In many places, such "flickering groups" change places with one shot, and constantly change product packaging and brands, which not only makes it difficult for farmers to distinguish between them, but also makes it difficult for law enforcement to trace them. The turning point in the fight against the "flickering regiment" occurred in March 2023. Agricultural law enforcement officers received reports that a new type of "compound functional fertilizer" had appeared in several villages in Fuliang County. The brand name is a bit sloppy, just called "big pot dish". With previous experience, agricultural law enforcement officers immediately carried out joint operations with the police.
Pei Ge, deputy secretary of the Party branch of the Jingdezhen Agricultural Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Detachment in Jiangxi Province and captain of the first brigade, said: "The fertilizer temporarily withheld, 'flickering group', is about more than 1,100 bags here, and it is a small particle, ammonium sulfate or ammonium chloride, this ammonium sulfate and ammonium chloride are nitrogen." ”
The inspection report confirms the judgment of agricultural law enforcement officers that the so-called "big pot dish" compound functional fertilizer, lacking phosphorus and potassium, is actually only a single nitrogen fertilizer. So, can a single nitrogen fertilizer be labeled with words like "compound function"?
Wang Hong, executive deputy director of the National Fertilizer Quality Inspection and Testing Center (Beijing), pointed out that the fertilizer registration management measures and the national mandatory standard GB-18382 have a clear definition of compound fertilizer, which refers to the three elements of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. There are clear provisions on the common name of fertilizers in the mandatory standards. Compound functional fertilizers and poly-control fertilizers do not meet the provisions of mandatory standards. It is simple nitrogen, so it cannot be called compound fertilizer, and it may be more of an inducing and foolish ingredient with the word "compound".
The national mandatory standards also clearly require that the nutrient elements on the compound fertilizer packaging bags should be marked with the percentage content of each element in the order of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The packaging of "Big Pot Dish" also has some nutrient elements printed on it, but what is it labeled?
"You look at this regular (compound fertilizer) packaging, this is nitrogen, this is phosphorus, this is potassium. Like this it is confused, nitrogen is nitrogen, sulfur is a medium element, like this ammonium nitrogen, amide nitrogen it is still nitrogen, in fact it has only one (element). But the common people saw that it was three compounds, four compounds. Pei Ge said.
The task force and Hebei Longchang Biofertilizer Co., Ltd. marked on the packaging bag for telephone verification. Unexpectedly, the other party answered very simply - admit the mistake and take the initiative to admit the punishment.
According to the current fertilizer registration management measures, in the agricultural and rural departments, this kind of "flickering group" behavior can only be punished with an administrative penalty of up to 30,000 yuan. Law enforcement officers found that in 2023 alone, the gang had already received many agricultural administrative penalties in Nanchang, Shangrao, Jiujiang and other places, and by the time of this case, the total fine had reached 80,000 or 90,000 yuan.
Pei Ge said: "He is not afraid of this kind of attack by our administrative law enforcement, which is a typical characteristic of the 'flickering group'." He hoped that the administrative punishment of the agricultural department would be dealt with as soon as possible, that the matter would be smoothed out, and that the matter would not be dealt with further and that the matter would be put to an end as soon as possible. ”
Peng Jiayao, deputy director of the Law Enforcement Supervision Department of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, stressed that it is necessary to increase the joint force of law enforcement and supervision to further ensure food security and protect the legitimate rights and interests of farmers.
The task force traveled back and forth to Hebei, Henan, Anhui, Shandong and other provinces three times, traveling tens of thousands of kilometers to investigate and collect evidence. In Linxi County, Xingtai City, Hebei Province, the task force finally met Zhang Mouhua, the person in charge of Longchang Biofertilizer Co., Ltd.
The task force found that Zhang Mouhua had used the name of Hebei Longchang Biological Fertilizer Co., Ltd., which he registered, to order from six small fertilizer factories in Hebei, Shandong and other places, and asked them to produce the cheapest single nitrogen fertilizer, which was packed in the "compound functional fertilizer" packaging bag carefully designed by Longchang Company, and Hebei Liqiang Fertilizer Co., Ltd. was one of them. The requirements for OEM production, Liqiang company is actually very clear. Liqiang Fertilizer Co., Ltd. does not have the production capacity of compound fertilizer, but they are happy to accept the order and put a single nitrogen fertilizer into the packaging bag of "compound functional fertilizer".
In July 2023, when the task force came to the factory, the head of the company flatly denied his actions. However, law enforcement officers found a large number of fertilizers that have been loaded and not shipped out of the company's warehouse, marked as the manufacturer of Hebei Longchang Biological Fertilizer Co., Ltd., the fertilizer customized by Longchang Company found this time has a new change, the brand has changed from "big pot dish" to "Longmaochang", and the generic name has also changed from compound functional fertilizer to more incomprehensible "carbon enzyme polycontrol fertilizer". Obviously, this is another disguise of the "flickering group" fertilizer. The discovery of the supply contract also confirmed the cooperative relationship between the company and Longchang. Seeing that the matter was exposed, the person in charge of Liqiang had to admit it.
Liu Mouxia, head of Hebei Liqiang Fertilizer Co., Ltd., said: "The packaging bag was sent by cargo lala. 'Big pot dish' compound functional fertilizer is produced according to the ratio of 800 kg of ammonium chloride and 200 kg of ammonium sulfate. ”
Ammonium chloride and ammonium sulfate are both raw materials for the production of nitrogen fertilizer, and the cost price is about 800~900 yuan/ton. According to the investigation of the task force, several foundries simply stirred the raw materials into bags and sold them to Zhang Mouhua, the general distributor of customized fertilizers, and the price became 1100~1200 yuan/ton, with a difference of about 300 yuan/ton; The general distributor Zhang Mouhua delivered the fertilizer to the agent Zhang Mouchang at a price of 1375 yuan/ton, a price difference of about 200 yuan/ton; The price of Zhang Mouchang's resale to the entity "Flicker Group" was 1,900 yuan/ton, and the intermediate price difference was about 500 yuan/ton; The final price of the "flickering group" sold to farmers was 3,250 yuan/ton, of which the salesman took 500 yuan per ton, the lecturer took 150 yuan per ton, and the person in charge of the "flickering group" made a profit of 700 yuan per ton. In this way, nitrogen fertilizer, which costs less than 1,000 yuan per ton, has more than tripled in the hands of farmers under the cloak of compound fertilizer.
After investigation, the gang sold more than 800 tons of fake and inferior fertilizers, and the amount involved was more than 200 yuan. The police arrested 7 criminal suspects and recovered more than 120 yuan of losses for farmers. In April 2024, the members of the "Flicker Group" who sold the "Big Pot Cai" brand compound functional fertilizer were prosecuted for "selling fake and shoddy products", and the administrative case was upgraded to a criminal case, which means that the crackdown on such cases has increased.
In fact, it has been nearly a decade since the emergence of the fertilizer "flickering group" fraud method, although the crackdown has been increasing, but the phenomenon of "flickering group" has not been broken, why is this?
Luo Yong, deputy director of the Food and Drug Environment Branch of the Jingdezhen Public Security Bureau in Jiangxi Province, said: "One of the biggest problems is that it is extremely difficult to crack down on criminal matters, because so far, our country has not specifically formulated and revised regulations and regulations for chemical fertilizers. Whether it belongs to the category of administrative punishment or is the scope of our public security criminal crackdown, this is a difficult point. ”
In recent years, the mainland has been vigorously promoting the construction of the rule of law in the field of agricultural materials. In 2021, the Seed Law was promulgated, and in 2022, the new Regulations on the Administration of Pesticides were revised and implemented. Unlike where major agricultural inputs such as seeds, pesticides, veterinary drugs, and feed have laws and regulations, there are no specific regulations for fertilizers.
Chemical fertilizer is an agricultural product with a long industrial chain. From raw materials, to production, sales, and finally to the end use, management responsibilities belong to multiple departments. The lack of relevant laws and regulations in the management of the sector has left a gap for the operation of the fertilizer "flickering group".
During the trial of the "flickering group" case of selling fake fertilizers in a big pot of vegetables, the reporter came to Hebei Liqiang Fertilizer Co., Ltd. again. As an upstream producer, no one in this company has been held legally responsible. When we asked again about the OEM of "compound functional fertilizer", the staff of this factory said: "We are all shut down for maintenance now. You go to Wuqiao, there are several in Wuqiao, you go there to have a look, or you take the bag, take the bag and let's talk. ”
At another factory, which had not been investigated by law enforcement officers, the person in charge was much emboldened and quoted the price directly. When we asked whether the filling of a single nitrogen fertilizer into the compound fertilizer packaging bag was non-compliant, the person in charge of the manufacturer was obviously very experienced, and said: "You can use the enterprise standard for compound functional fertilizer, but you can't strictly say it, because ammonium chloride can only be labeled ammonium chloride, and ammonium sulfate can only be labeled ammonium sulfate." You can use your enterprise standards, you can make a business standard. ”
The enterprise standard mentioned by the person in charge refers to the standard declared by the fertilizer production enterprises themselves. According to the regulations, the technical requirements of enterprise standards shall not be lower than the technical requirements of mandatory national standards. Hebei Longchang Biological Fertilizer Co., Ltd. has declared a number of enterprise standards such as "compound functional fertilizer" and "carbon enzyme polycontrol fertilizer", and it can be found that they are almost all single nitrogen fertilizers, but these names have obtained production licenses. By printing the company's standard production license logo on the packaging bag, Longchang Company can customize any fertilizer needed by the "flickering group".
This year, the joint action of seven national departments to carry out special treatment of the problem of chemical fertilizer "flickering group" has produced a lot of deterrent power. It is also hoped that the laws and regulations on chemical fertilizers will be promulgated as soon as possible to better protect food security and the interests of farmers, so that the chemical fertilizer "flickering group" that pits farmers and harms farmers can be drilled seamlessly. At the same time as the relevant departments of the state intensify the crackdown, we also remind the majority of farmers that when buying agricultural products such as fertilizers, we must be vigilant, and pay more attention to those ultra-low-priced fertilizers. To buy agricultural materials or to choose formal channels, in case of suspected fake and inferior products, the first time to contact the local agriculture and rural areas, market supervision, public security and other departments to report.
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Please indicate in the following format for reprinting: Source: CCTV Editor: Ding Jiahui Review: Wang Meihong Producer: Zheng Hongyan
