Yuan Longping says: Super rice is not genetically modified technology

      On December 14, Yuan Longping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center, spoke at the Sanya Finance International Forum. (Photo by Sha Xiaofeng, reporter for Sanya News Network)

Yuan Longping: Super rice is not genetically modified technology. In response to the concerns of attending listeners, Yuan Longping said——“Super rice is not genetically modified technology”

Yuan Longping, China's “father of hybrid rice,” who attended the Sanya·Finance International Forum, said today in his speech at the summit forum: “Super rice is not genetically modified technology.”

“I have a dream, and this dream is called the ‘hybrid rice covers the globe dream.’” Today, while attending the “Current Status and Future of Food Security” summit forum, Yuan Longping told the audience about his dream. Yuan Longping said that hybrid rice has played a key role in safeguarding food security in the new century. If 50% of the world's rice fields were planted with hybrid rice, it could feed 400 to 500 million more people, “so developing hybrid rice plays an important role in safeguarding world food security and promoting world peace.”

“Now there are debates everywhere about whether genetically modified food is safe. May I ask how the safety of super rice can be ensured?” Many listeners were very concerned about the super rice trials Yuan Longping is conducting.

“Super rice is not genetically modified technology, but a conventional technology.” Yuan Longping explained in response to people's concerns. He introduced that super rice is produced by hybridizing varieties that can complement each other in desirable traits, producing a first-generation hybrid with advantages, thereby increasing yield.

On the issue of genetic modification, Kenneth Quinn, chairman of the World Food Prize Foundation and former U.S. deputy secretary of state, said that there is a lot of organic production in the United States, but the production cost of such products is relatively high. For backward regions that are still hungry, such as many countries in Africa, 80% of the poor population are small and medium-sized farmers, and they are all victims of disastrous weather. Therefore, they need to plant genetically modified crops that can better resist disasters in order to ensure local food supply.

In Quinn's view, the production of organic food and the planting of genetically modified crops need to coexist in order to meet people's needs. (Reporters Fu  Wang Run)