Great progress in hybrid rice, food security guaranteed

Rice is the most important food crop. More than half of the world's population relies on rice as a staple food, and in China, over 60% of the population relies on rice as a staple food. Among food crops, rice ranks first, wheat second, corn third, and tubers fourth. Rice accounts for 40% of China's grain output, while wheat, corn, and tubers together account for 60%. Therefore, increasing rice yields is of great positive significance for safeguarding our food security. In 2009, the National Development and Reform Commission proposed that an additional 100 billion jin of grain would be needed by 2020 to meet requirements. By then, China's population may reach 1.5 billion. So China's situation is one of many people and little land. Even if the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land is guaranteed, that is only 1 mu and 3 fen per person.

How can we improve our food problem? The only way out is to increase grain yield per unit area, and to increase grain yield per unit area through scientific and technological progress. There are many ways to increase yield per unit area. The first is to build water conservancy projects, improve soil, increase fertilizer application, and raise the level of cultivation technology, among many other methods. Among them, the most immediately effective and also the most economical and efficient method is to adopt improved varieties. For rice, this means promoting hybrid rice, which can increase rice yield per unit area by a relatively large margin. In 1998, our rice planting area was 500 million mu. Now it is only 450 million mu, a reduction of 50 million mu of paddy field area, yet grain output increased by 100 billion jin. The main contribution came from the promotion of hybrid rice.

Hybrid rice can greatly increase yield. What is hybrid rice? Hybrid rice is the use of rice heterosis. Heterosis is a universal phenomenon in the biological world. Animals, plants, and microorganisms, from tiny bacteria up to humans, all exhibit this phenomenon, and rice is no exception. Hybrid rice is the use of rice heterosis. When two varieties are crossed, the one in the middle is the hybrid rice, the one on the left is the female parent variety, and the one on the right is the male parent variety. In the lower part, we can see that the hybrid rice root system is especially well developed, and the panicles above ground are also very large. The male parent is larger than the female parent, and the yield is very high. Heterosis exists only in the hybrid F1 generation; the second generation has no heterosis, so F1 hybrid rice is produced every year. By using rice male sterile lines, first-generation hybrid rice can be produced in large quantities. We use two artificial pollens, falling onto the male sterile plants, so that hybrid rice can be produced over large areas, and this seed is used for field production.

Last year, among nearly 450 million mu of rice nationwide, 250 million mu was hybrid rice, accounting for more than 57% of China's total rice area. At present, the national average rice yield is 430 kg/mu, while hybrid rice is 500 kg/mu. Everyone knows that Japan is a country with relatively advanced science and technology. Its rice area is 26 to 27 million mu, with an average yield of 450 kg. Our hybrid rice area is 9 times theirs, and our yield per mu is 50 kg more than theirs. India is a developing country, with an average yield of 200 kg per mu. Our hybrid rice is far ahead of the world. Under the same conditions, our hybrid rice yields about 20% more than conventional improved varieties, and the increased grain can feed 70 million more people each year.

In order to meet the country's demand for grain in the new century, the Ministry of Agriculture launched the super rice program in 1996. The plan was divided into four stages. The first stage was 1996—2000, with the target of reaching a yield of more than 700 kg per mu. Only when a 100-mu field produced more than 700 kg for two consecutive years was the standard considered met. The second was 2001—2005, with 800 kg per mu. The third was 2006—2015, with 900 kg per mu. The fourth stage was 2013 to 2020, with 1,000 kg per mu. By 2000, we had successfully bred several pioneering super hybrid rice combinations. Their yield reached the first-stage target, with some 1,000-mu blocks reaching 500 kg per mu. They were promoted over large production areas, and in recent years the promoted area has been more than 10 million mu, with an average yield of 550 kg per mu. The second-stage super rice was achieved one year ahead of schedule in 2004, and large-scale production promotion began in 2006. Last year, the planting area was close to 10 million mu, with an average yield of more than 600 kg/mu. The third-stage super rice achieved 900 kg/mu in 2012. In Longhui County, Hunan, there was a 100-mu demonstration plot, actually 108 mu, and after final acceptance by experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, the yield reached 926.6 kg per mu. After meeting the standard in 2012, we suggested to the Ministry of Agriculture that we move on to the fourth-stage super rice program, which was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, with the target of 1,000 kg per mu. This year, in Longhui County, we again advanced toward 1,000 kg. After final acceptance by experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, we had originally hoped to break through this year, but the result fell a little short, at 988.1 kg, still 19 kg short. This is our fourth-stage super rice. We plan to meet the standard in 2020, and strive to break through 1,000 kg in 2015. I am fairly confident that through two years of effort this can be achieved.

People ask, if we break through 1,000 kg, is there a bottom to rice yield growth, and is there still potential to tap? I say that after achieving 1,000 kg, I will not be satisfied, and I still want to climb toward higher yields. Theoretically speaking, to put it at a discount, with a 2.5 light energy utilization rate, in Changsha during the rice production season, the yield at a 2.5 light energy utilization rate should be 1,500 kg. So after achieving 1,000 kg, there is still potential, and I am still confident. I want to carry forward the spirit of an old steed in the stable still aspiring to gallop a thousand li, and march toward 1,100 and 1,200 kg. Our ancient varieties had their best yields at 300 kg, and dwarf varieties at 400 kg. To increase yield, semi-dwarf varieties were developed, about one meter tall, and the yield increased, to about 500 kg per mu. At present, hybrid rice basically all belongs to the semi-dwarf type. Our current super rice is semi-tall, about 1.3 m tall, reaching about 900 kg and 1,000 kg per mu. If further improved, it becomes new tall-stalked rice. Finally, there is super tall-stalked rice, with yields of about 1,200 to 1,300 kg, and stalks five to six meters tall. At present, 1,200 and 1,300 are achievable. Therefore, hybrid rice has three major tasks in the future. The first is to march toward super high yield, with 1,000 and 1,200 as the first task. The second is the “plant three to produce four” project, planting three mu of super rice to produce the grain of four mu. It started in Hunan in 2004. In the first year, 18 of 20 counties met the standard, and this year 48 of 51 counties met the standard. We plan to expand to 15 million mu by 2016. The task given by the state to Hunan is to increase production by 4 billion kg. Our project has completed the task assigned by the National Development and Reform Commission. Anhui, Henan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan have now all followed suit. We plan for the national “plant three to produce four” project to expand to 60 million mu of land producing the grain of 80 million mu, equivalent to adding 20 million mu of arable land. At a budget of 400 jin per mu, that is 8 billion kg. For the national target of 100 billion jin of grain, with rice accounting for 40%, this one item can complete 40% of the national task. The third we call the “three-one” project, three fen of land feeding one person, with three fen of land producing one kilogram of grain per day. Hunan Province began implementing it this year. Of 5 counties, 2 reached the target. One mu must produce 1,200 kg of grain, and three fen of land is 360 kg of grain. We need to expand the “three-one” project to 5 million mu in Hunan. This is 9% of Hunan's arable land, and the grain produced can feed 24% of Hunan's population, that is, 9% of the arable land can feed 24% of the population. Therefore, through scientific and technological progress, we Chinese can completely rely on ourselves to solve the food problem. I am very optimistic. Add to that good policies, if the state's preferential agricultural policies can truly be put into effect and efforts increased, mobilizing farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain, we Chinese can completely rely on ourselves to solve the issue of feeding ourselves and safeguard food security.

Hybrid rice does not only perform well in China; it also performs very well abroad. At present, countries producing it on a large scale include India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, the Philippines, the United States, and Indonesia. In 2012, the global planting area of hybrid rice was 5.2 million hectares. The increase in developing countries such as India and Vietnam is very large. The most developed country, the United States, plants more than 6 million mu of our hybrid rice, and its yield is 20—25% higher than local improved varieties. So I have two dreams. The first dream is the dream of super rice. I dream that our super rice grows taller than sorghum in my experimental field, with panicles as long as brooms and grains as big as peanuts, and my colleagues and I are beneath the rice panicles. I hope that through tackling super rice, we can realize this dream and finally reach 1,200 kg. The second dream is the dream of hybrid rice covering the globe, with hybrid rice going abroad and being promoted to the whole world. At present, there are 2.3 billion mu of rice fields in the world. If half of them produce hybrid rice, with an increase of 130 to 150 kg per mu, the increase in grain would be 150 million tons, feeding 400 to 500 million more people each year. If this dream is realized, the first significance is to make our contribution to world food security and world peace. The second significance is that it can greatly enhance our country's international status and help us make more good friends. The third significance is considerable economic benefit. How can we realize the second dream? Our Third Plenary Session is carrying out more comprehensive and deeper reform and opening up. The state should formulate good policies for our leading planting enterprises, helping them, encouraging them, and supporting them to go abroad. Jilin Province is the largest corn-planting area in the country, and 60% is invested by Pioneer. Pioneer has great advantages in planting corn, but hybrid rice is an absolute advantage. This year, the Philippines held a hybrid rice science and technology conference. They displayed all the world's excellent hybrid rice varieties, with more than 40 varieties, and the top three were all China's. But our varieties are not allowed to go out. I call for us to take the initiative to go out and realize my second dream, making our Chinese contribution to world peace and world food security.