Anhui super rice crop failure controversy: Yuan Longping responds, "It will not shake me"
Yuan Longping and hybrid rice
On the morning of October 13, inside the super rice experimental field at the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, Yuan Longping, having just stepped out of the car, left everyone behind and walked straight into the experimental field to carefully examine the rice. Although he had come to look just two days earlier, he still seemed uneasy.
The rice in the demonstration field had already been mostly harvested. Two days earlier, Yuan Longping had announced here that the new super rice variety “Chaoyou 1000” mid-season rice had been successfully planted as a demonstration in the Changsha urban area, with the highest per-mu yield reaching 1012 kg, accomplishing the goal of growing rice in Changsha with a per-mu yield exceeding 1000 kg.
But super rice has not had smooth sailing all the way. At the end of last year, the rice variety “Liangyou 0293” suffered yield reductions and total crop failure in Anhui. Since then, doubts about “super rice” from the outside world have continued. In response, Yuan Longping said in an interview with a Daily Economic News reporter that although he is already 85 years old, he is in good health. “Some people come to question super rice. I ask, what is their purpose? Young people today do not know how precious grain is. I am 85 but I do not yield to old age. You criticize me, but I will not be shaken in the slightest.”
“Level 5 resistance to pests and diseases is an intermediate level”
“Let me introduce this. This is double-season late rice, not single-season rice, (with a per-mu yield of) around 700 kg.” In the demonstration field, Yuan Longping called on reporters to observe the abundant rice. Yuan Longping explained that China currently has a total of 39 100-mu super rice demonstration plots, and some of them have already had a bumper harvest. “We set up 39 points this year. So far, half of them have been harvested, and half have not yet been harvested. Among them, 6 points exceeded 1000 kg (per mu), and one point exceeded 16 tons (per hectare; about 1067 kg per mu).”
According to the introduction, the world's rice planting area is currently around 2.2 billion mu, with an average per-mu yield of 300 kg. Even in some countries with relatively advanced agricultural science and technology, such as Japan, the average per-mu yield is only 450 kg, while China's super rice has reached an average per-mu yield of 500 kg.
In 1996, the Ministry of Agriculture established the “China Super Rice” breeding program. At present, super rice varieties have evolved to the fourth phase. As of April this year, a total of 118 varieties have been recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture as super rice nationwide.
In October 2014, the variety “Liangyou 0293” under the name of “super rice” from Longping High-Tech (000998, SZ) suffered yield reductions and total crop failure across ten thousand mu in the Bengbu area of Anhui, triggering sustained public attention. Subsequently, the Ministry of Agriculture stated that “Liangyou 0293” was not a super rice variety recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture, and that the yield reduction incident would not affect subsequent research on super rice. On September 2 this year, it issued a notice requiring 41 crop varieties, including “Liangyou 0293,” to cease production immediately and to stop promotion after one year.
However, doubts about hybrid rice within the super rice family have not ceased with the fading of the “Liangyou 0293” total crop failure incident. These doubts include: high yield but low quality and poor taste, high fertilizer and water requirements and not environmentally friendly, and seeds that cannot be saved for planting. It is worth noting that the yield reduction and total crop failure of “Liangyou 0293” in Anhui was caused by rice blast disease.
Faced with doubts, Yuan Longping said in an interview with a Daily Economic News reporter that super rice still has some technical problems to be solved, such as its resistance to pests and diseases, especially rice blast, which is still not ideal. “Rice blast is the cancer of rice. It is constantly changing, and the difficulty is great. The resistance of super rice can only be said to be not so ideal, but actually it is still acceptable. (It belongs to) intermediate resistance, not so highly resistant.”
According to Yuan Longping, under the Ministry of Agriculture's 9-level evaluation index, the pest and disease resistance of super rice is at the intermediate level of level 5. “Levels 1, 2, and 3 are highly resistant; levels 7, 8, and 9 are highly susceptible. We are at level 5, an intermediate level. I think it would be good to reach level 3. Level 1 is very difficult.” “Ordinary rice also has resistant types and non-resistant types. It is all like this. There is still no fully resistant rice variety. (Resistance) is not absolute; it is all relative.” Yuan Longping said.
“At 85, I do not yield to old age; there is still hope”
Yuan Longping, at the advanced age of 85, still speaks about rice with great vigor. He joked that he is a “post-80s” generation. “I am now a post-80s. I originally said I would conquer 16 tons (per hectare) before 90, and now that is already no trouble at all. Now I want to take down 17 tons before 90. The more I work, the more energized I get.” Yuan Longping told a Daily Economic News reporter.
The experimental field where Yuan Longping referred to a per-hectare yield exceeding 16 tons is located at the “Super Hybrid Rice Gejiu Demonstration Base” in Gejiu City, Yunnan. In early October, this 100-mu contiguous rice research field planting base set a world record for the average per-mu yield of 100-mu contiguous rice with 1067.5 kg.
According to a previous report by Science and Technology Daily, in September 2013, Yuan Longping first looked ahead to the “internationalized” goal of 16 tons per hectare in the fifth phase of super rice. In February this year, Yuan Longping told the media that the goal of achieving 16 tons per hectare of super rice in 2018 had been moved forward to a breakthrough in 2016.
Therefore, Yuan Longping believes that the research direction of super rice is correct. “You criticize me, but I will not be shaken in the slightest. I still want to advance toward a higher goal.”
During the interview, Yuan Longping repeatedly emphasized the importance of food security. He said that super rice is a major project proposed and established by the state to ensure the food needs of the entire population. “Rice is the largest food crop both in China and in the world. More than half the world's population and more than 60% of China's population rely on rice as their staple food. Especially in China, where there are many people and little land, the only way we can solve the food problem is by increasing the yield per unit area of cultivated land. This development direction is beyond doubt.”
Citing the experimental field at the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center in Changsha as an example, Yuan Longping said that even under unfavorable ecological conditions in Changsha, the per-mu yield still exceeded 1000 kg, showing that super rice has great potential. “If it is extended on a large scale to 100 million mu, calculated at an increase of 100 kg per mu, it could increase grain output by 10 billion kg per year, which is a remarkable figure. It would be enough for two mega-cities, Shanghai and Beijing, for an entire year's grain, and still more than enough.”
Yuan Longping told reporters that in the end he still wants to realize two dreams. “The first is the ‘dream of resting in the shade of rice plants.’ I dreamed that in the experimental field, the super rice grew as tall as sorghum, with panicles as long as brooms and grains as big as peanut kernels, and we sat underneath enjoying the shade.” “The second dream is the dream that hybrid rice will cover the globe. The world now has more than 2.2 billion mu of rice fields. According to our previous figures, more than 70 million mu have already been planted abroad (with hybrid rice). If half were planted with hybrid rice, calculated at an increase of 150 kg per mu, how much more grain could be produced? It could feed an additional 400 million to 500 million people. Once this dream is realized, it will be of great significance for safeguarding world food security and promoting world peace.” “85 years old? But I do not yield to old age. I believe, first, I have a special affection for rice and like it very much; I cannot give it up. Second, my health is still good. I still have hope. I still want to carry forward the spirit of an old steed in the stable still aspiring to gallop a thousand li. My ambition lies in these two dreams.”
Yuan Longping also has two dreams
“The first is the ‘dream of resting in the shade of rice plants.’ I dreamed that in the experimental field, the super rice grew as tall as sorghum, with panicles as long as brooms and grains as big as peanut kernels, and we sat underneath enjoying the shade.”
“The second dream is the dream that hybrid rice will cover the globe. The world now has more than 2.2 billion mu of rice fields. According to our previous figures, more than 70 million mu have already been planted abroad (with hybrid rice). If half were planted with hybrid rice, calculated at an increase of 150 kg per mu, how much more grain could be produced? It could feed an additional 400 million to 500 million people. Once this dream is realized, it will be of great significance for safeguarding world food security and promoting world peace.”