How does super hybrid rice safeguard national food security?

China currently has a population of more than 1.3 billion, and it will soon reach 1.4 billion. At the same time, China's cultivated land is decreasing year by year. Faced with this severe situation of a growing population and shrinking land, the only way to solve the problem of feeding the entire nation is to greatly increase the yield per unit area of food crops through scientific and technological progress. To this end, we are implementing three grain yield increase projects.

First, breeding super high-yield hybrid rice varieties that produce 16 tons of paddy rice per hectare.

The pursuit of high and ever higher crop yields is an eternal theme. Rice is the largest food crop in China and in the world. In order to greatly increase rice yields, Japan took the lead in 1981 in carrying out super high-yield rice breeding, planning to raise rice yield per unit area to 12 tons per hectare within 15 years. But today, 34 years later, this has still not been achieved. The International Rice Research Institute officially launched research in 1989 on breeding super rice (su?perrice), later changed to new plant type rice, planning to develop by 2000 a super rice yielding 12-12.5 tons per hectare. Likewise, this has still not succeeded to date. This shows that breeding super rice yielding 12 tons per hectare is extremely difficult.

In order to meet the food needs of the entire nation in the 21st century, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Science and Technology respectively established and launched China's super rice breeding program in 1996 and 1997, with yield targets for four phases (average per 100 mu) as follows:

Phase One: 1996-2000, 10.5 tons/hectare; Phase Two: 2001-2005, 12 tons/hectare; Phase Three: 2006-2015, 13.5 tons/hectare; Phase Four: 2016-2020, 15 tons/hectare

Through the technical approach of morphological improvement and utilization of intersubspecific heterosis, plus our team's tireless research and tackling of key problems, the above yield targets were all achieved one by one on schedule and ahead of schedule. The representative variety of Phase One is Liangyou Peijiu, bred in cooperation with the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In the early years of the 21st century, it was applied in large-scale production, with the highest annual promotion area approaching 10 million mu and an average yield of about 550 kg per mu. The representative variety of Phase Two is Y Liangyou 1, with a planting area of 8 million mu in 2014 and an average yield of about 600 kg per mu. The representative variety of Phase Three is Y Liangyou 2. In 2012 in Longhui County, Hunan, a 100-mu plot achieved 926.6 kg per mu (13.9 tons/hectare). It began to be promoted in 2013, and in 2014 its planting area exceeded 1 million mu. Yield rose to another level, at about 650 kg per mu. The representative variety of Phase Four is Y Liangyou 900. In 2014 in Hunan, four 100-mu demonstration plots exceeded 1,000 kg per mu, among which Xupu County set a record of 1,026.7 kg per mu (15.4 tons/hectare), far ahead of the rest of the world. It is expected that after large-scale promotion, yield per unit area can rise to yet another level. Production practice shows that the height of this step is 50 kg/mu.

Theoretically, rice harbors enormous yield potential. At present, we are working toward 16 tons/hectare, with the representative variety Chaoyou Qianhao, and the situation is very good. On April 9, an on-site observation meeting was held in Sanya, Hainan. More than 300 experts and people from the seed industry witnessed the variety's outstanding performance and all were extremely pleasantly surprised. The famous Indian breeder Dr. Ish Kumar lingered on site, reluctant to leave. When asked about his feelings, he replied “Morethanexcited”. At present, this variety is at the yellow-ripe stage. People who are interested in super rice and those who hold doubts are welcome to visit Sanya, inspect and provide guidance. “Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.”

Second, the “plant three, produce four” high-yield project, namely planting three mu of super hybrid rice and producing the grain of four mu at the original level (the average of the previous 5 years).

This project is mainly implemented in low- and medium-yield areas. It was first launched in Hunan Province in 2007, with 20 demonstration counties participating in the project, of which 18 counties met the standard, that is, an increase of 33% over the average yield per unit area in the five years from 2002 to 2006.

In 2014, it expanded to 52 counties (cities, districts) with a total of 11.46 million mu. Over 8 years, the project accumulated a planting area of 43.353 million mu and increased paddy rice output by 4.733 billion kg. The plan is to strive to expand to 15 million mu by 2017. The average yield per unit area of 20 million mu in the first five years before the project was implemented (2002-2006) equals an increase of 5 million mu of cultivated land, and can increase grain by 2 billion kg per year (the five-year average yield per unit area from 2002 to 2006 was about 400 kg/mu). Sichuan, Guizhou, Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Henan and other provinces (regions) have also requested to participate in this project. Among them, Guangdong, Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan and Anhui have already launched implementation, with very good results. It is suggested that this project be incorporated into the national plan, and within 5 years expand nationwide to 60 million mu, producing the grain of 80 million mu at the existing level, which equals an increase of 20 million mu of rice fields. Calculated at 400 kg per mu, this can increase grain by 8 billion kg per year, enough to supply the annual ration of the population of a mega-city such as Beijing or Shanghai.

Third, the high-yield grain project of feeding one person with three fen of land, abbreviated as the “Three-One Project”, namely three fen of land producing 360 kg of grain per year (1,200 kg per mu), enough for one person's annual ration.

This project began in 2014 in high-yield areas of 16 counties in Hunan Province, with three models: first, double-season super rice, with early rice yielding 550 kg per mu and late rice yielding 650 kg per mu; second, “single-season super medium rice + potato”, with rice yielding 700 kg per mu and potato yielding 2,000 kg per mu (equivalent to 500 kg of paddy rice); third, “spring corn + single-season super rice”, with corn yielding 500 kg per mu and rice yielding 700 kg per mu. In 2014, Xiangtan County and Liling County, which adopted the double-season rice model, reached the designed targets. For example, in Yuhu District, Xiangtan County, a 310-mu demonstration field had an average early rice yield of 584.5 kg per mu and an average late rice yield of 662.5 kg per mu. In Shimen County, Longshan County and Yongshun County, which adopted the “super hybrid rice + potato” model, the annual yield of raw grain per mu was above 1,200 kg. With the support and cooperation of relevant departments, this project should strive to expand to 11 million mu by 2020, accounting for 19% of Hunan Province's cultivated land area, with the grain produced able to meet the needs of half the province's population. It is suggested that provinces (cities, districts) with ecological conditions similar to or better than Hunan's can draw on Hunan's experience and implement this project in accordance with local conditions, so as to make greater contributions to safeguarding national food security.

There is no end to the development of science and technology. It is expected that super hybrid rice yielding 16 tons per hectare can hopefully be successfully achieved next year. But I am not satisfied with this. The spirit of an old steed in the stable still aspiring to gallop a thousand li inspires me to strive for even higher yields, and to strive to breed a super hybrid rice variety with even higher yield before I turn 90.