Farmers lost 1.6 bil. yen in fallout from chemical scandals.

TOKYO, Dec. 9 Kyodo

Japanese farmers have disposed of or stopped distributing at least 6,300 tons of crops following a series of scandals over the use of unauthorized chemicals last summer, costing them some 1.6 billion yen, according to farm ministry data released Monday.

The data, based on figures from 32 of Japan's 47 prefectures which the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries received by Nov. 20, show that apples and pears were the most badly affected.

A total of 5,480 tons of fruit ended up being disposed of or not distributed to the market, amounting to about 1.3 billion yen in losses. They included 2,600 tons of apples, 2,500 tons of Japanese pears and 200 tons of Western pears.

A total of 770 tons of vegetables worth some 300 million yen met a similar fate, 230 tons of which were yams, followed by 170 tons of Chinese cabbage and 160 tons of other cabbage.

The figures include crops that farmers destroyed or stopped distributing even though they did not use problem chemicals, because of rumors about the danger of the crops, the ministry said.

The ministry has declined to disclose prefecture-to-prefecture data out of concern it could spark unnecessary speculation. But a ministry official noted that while the total losses are not so large, farmers in some individual municipalities have been hit very hard.

The ministry said about 270 peddlers had sold unauthorized chemicals to about 3,800 farmers as of Nov. 29. It ordered about 250 of the peddlers to stop selling chemicals for between five and 10 days in violation of the Agricultural Chemicals Regulation Law.

Since last month the ministry has offered low-interest loans to farmers whose operations deteriorated in the aftermath of the scandals.

Police arrested peddlers in Tokyo and Yamagata prefectures in the summer for allegedly selling two chemicals -- the insecticide Plictran and the fungicide Difolatan -- without registering with the ministry.

The chemicals are not authorized in Japan as they could possibly cause cancer.

The incident revealed that a large number of farmers had used unauthorized chemicals, prompting legal moves to toughen controls.

The Diet has passed the revised Agricultural Chemicals Regulation Law, which will toughen punishments for sellers of unauthorized chemicals and ban the manufacture, importation and use of such chemicals. The law will take effect in March.