Beijing strives to ensure stable food supply during Olympics

BEIJING, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The vegetable prices in Beijing have dropped markedly because of the preferential measures the government has taken to allow trucks carrying farm produce to enter the city after the vehicle ban on Sunday. According to the farm produce price monitoring system developed by Xinhua News Agency, ten of the 13 vegetables monitored were cheaper this week. The price of spinach, tomatoes and radishes dropped by 20 percent as of Thursday, compared with that of last Tuesday. "Cucumbers and tomatoes are one yuan a kilo now. They were three times higher at the beginning of this month," said Wang Tianmin, 65, a retired worker in Chongwen District. Since Sunday, half of Beijing's 3.3 million cars have been banned on alternate days depending on their licence plate number from July 20 to Sept. 20. Many people are... [read full story]