A report issued by the State Environmental Protection Administration concluded that, following a reduction in industrial pollution, chemical fertilisers, pesticides and animal waste of modern intensive agriculture were now the country's most serious environmental hazards, People's Daily said. The worst polluters were huge farms for rearing animals, which were often inappropriately sited and did not have waste-disposal facilities.
A recent report by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science estimated that farms across the country produced more than 1.7bn tonnes of sewage and waste water each year, of which only 3 per cent was treated.