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CHINA

Two broad categories of organic fertilities - 'New Manor', for growing fruits and vegetables, and 'Green Manor' for cultivating grains obtained by recycling garbage - have been developed by a Beijing-based private firm. Research on the fertiliser technology began in 1994, and encouraged by the early results in 1996, the Taishan Green Products Manufacturing Company is now planning to expand its activity in other regions.

The company's engineer Ciu Wei says negotiation is on with the authorities for setting up factories in Gansu, Liaoning and Sichuan provinces where rubbish would be recycled into fertiliser. Ciu said that in the initial stage, garbage comprised 10 per cent of Green Manor's ingredients. She expects the figure to rise to 60 per cent.

In China, about 35 per cent of urban household refuse is separated and sold to farmers who convert it to an organic soil conditioner-cum-fertiliser."It is a dangerous hotchpotch of plastic, glass, vegetable leaves and bones," says Ciu. The other ingredients remain a trade secret. But clearly, the additives benefit various crops. Says Wu Yuguang, a soil specialist who helped test the fertilisers, "Green Manor contains 40-60 per cent organic matter which provide valuable nourishment without doing harm".

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