Topic: How to resolve the conflict of an increasing population and shrinking farmland, ensure high yield of quality of hybrid rice and food security, and protect intellectual property rights on hybrid products.
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Guest: Yuan Longping, dubbed as the "Father of Hybrid Rice", academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director General of the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Centre.
Date: May 22
Host: Strong Nation Forum

Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice", once dreamed that the rice they cultivated would have grains plumper than peanuts and spikes longer than brooms, as he and his assistants were relaxing in the cool shadow of the large rice plants. This is his dream, and he has been trying to reach his goal through the development of different rice breeds and significantly increasing the amount of rice yielded.

"Never treat food security lightly"
Yuan claims that the food supply can essentially meet the demand in China without much of a surplus, so food security cannot be treated lightly and should be made a priority.

Compared to traditional rice, hybrid rice has more fringes and bigger grains with a developed root system and good vitality. In addition, Yuan said that the average yield of hybrid rice per mu (0.0667 hectares) in China is 480 kilograms, 100 kilograms more than that of traditional rice. In China, 60% of rice fields grow hybrid rice, accounting for 70% of the total rice output.

Outside of China, the hybrid rice growth area had amounted to 30 million mu (2,001,000 hectares) throughout last year; mainly in India, Iran, the Philippines, Bengal, Pakistan and the United States. Plant coverage is intended to reach 15 million hectares within five to six years, and the output per hectare to increase by at least two tons. Thus 30 million more tons of grain will be harvested and which can solve the food shortage for 100 million people.

"Grow three and harvest four"
To resolve the conflict of an increasing population and shrinking farmland, Yuan proposed three solutions. First, the family planning policy should continue to be endorsed. Secondly, arable land should be protected and maintained by a strict policy. Thirdly, grain output per unit should be improved. Yuan and his group have promoted a new high-yield program called "grow three and harvest four," which means rice grown on three mu of land will yield an output that previously four mu of land could yield. Yuan still grasped that industrialization was an inevitable trend, and that a small-peasant economy cannot enrich people's lives. He agreed that the more farmers one country had, the more backward the nation would be. Therefore, the current trend to liberate more labor from agriculture to other industries is a good one.

Yuan and his group have set their goal to achieve 900 kilograms of grain output per mu by 2010. Their next goal is 1000 kilograms per mu. According to actinography and meteorological data in Changsha, one crop of rice can, at most, yield 1,500 kilograms per mu. Currently, equal amounts of stress are placed on pursuing high yields and high quality. The "Super Hybrid Rice" is now said to have exceeded rice in Thailand in terms of taste. However, Yuan insisted that the amount of hybrid rice per unit yielded still outweighs its quality.

Research group on hybrid rice in China leads the world
The research groups on hybrid rice in China are leading in the world. Although the research work started in Japan, the country has not yet been able to realize an output of 800 kilograms per mu. In China, there are research teams in each rice growing province. There are currently 100 employees at the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Centre; more than half are senior researchers, eighteen with a doctoral degree, and twelve with a master's degree. Yuan also advised that agricultural institutes should be completely and appropriately funded, and the remuneration for the work of those who are developing agricultural technology, ought to be increased.

Yuan cherishes three wishes: to maintain a breakthrough from super rice technology to the third-phase super strain of rice, and put it into use on a large scale; to attain the high-yield program of "grow three and harvest four," and to yield an output of 80 million mu of grain from 60 million mu (4,002,000 hectares) of land within five years; and to spread hybrid rice technology throughout the world, contributing a solution for food shortage in developing countries.

"Not a banner of China, but a common citizen"
For several years now, Yuan Longping has been looked upon as being worth 100 billion Yuan; however, his most expensive suit only cost him 800 Yuan. In regards to money, Yuan holds the following ideas: money is important but should be earned through legal methods; money is meant to be spent, and "hoarding money without spending it" is pointless; money should be used on appropriate things in neither an extravagant nor miserly fashion.

He also appealed to the audience not to place himself in the same category with Deng Xiaoping, for he said Deng Xiaoping was a great designer of reform and opening in China. He also claimed that he wasn't a banner of China, but a common citizen. When recalling the scene on the foreign-academician inauguration ceremony held on April 29, 2007 in Washington by American Academy of Science, on which he received longest and warmest applause, he said that he felt so happy that he had won some prestige to homeland. Yuan stated that he didn't expect to win Nobel Prize, and he has already been awarded enough.

In Yuan's eyes, farmers are plain and diligent and should be respected. Yuan added there would be more and more students studying abroad to return home, for the developing gap between home and abroad is narrowing. He suggested that people learn to be positive and open-minded, do some sports and form a regular living habit. He revealed that he did some exercise in the morning and playing balls in the afternoon. Meals should be had at fixed time with fixed quantity, and health stands the first and nutrition the second.

By People's Daily Online