China dairy farmers to get $44m in subsidies
Friday, 10 October 2008
BEIJING, Oct 9 (AFP): China's government announced today 300 million yuan (43.9 million dollars) in subsidies for the nation's scandal.
"In order to stabilise the breeding of dairy cows and advance the development of the dairy industry, the finance and agricultural ministries have set up a provisional subsidy programme for farmers in hard hit areas," the government said.
Farmers in China's main dairy regions of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanxi and Shandong provinces would be the main beneficiaries of the programme, a joint statement issued by the two ministries said.
The 300 million yuan in funds would be handed down from central finance departments for local governments to distribute according to conditions on the farms, it added.
Up to 53,000 children were sickened and four have died after the industrial chemical melamine was added to a range of dairy products, including infant milk formula, falsely making the goods appear to contain higher levels of protein.
Although the tainted milk was discovered as early as March this year, industry and government cover-ups kept the scandal out of the state media until early September.
The scandal is expected to wreak billions of dollars in losses to China's dairy industry, while trust in the nation's food safety system has been greatly damaged both internationally and domestically.
"In order to stabilise the breeding of dairy cows and advance the development of the dairy industry, the finance and agricultural ministries have set up a provisional subsidy programme for farmers in hard hit areas," the government said.
Farmers in China's main dairy regions of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanxi and Shandong provinces would be the main beneficiaries of the programme, a joint statement issued by the two ministries said.
The 300 million yuan in funds would be handed down from central finance departments for local governments to distribute according to conditions on the farms, it added.
Up to 53,000 children were sickened and four have died after the industrial chemical melamine was added to a range of dairy products, including infant milk formula, falsely making the goods appear to contain higher levels of protein.
Although the tainted milk was discovered as early as March this year, industry and government cover-ups kept the scandal out of the state media until early September.
The scandal is expected to wreak billions of dollars in losses to China's dairy industry, while trust in the nation's food safety system has been greatly damaged both internationally and domestically.