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Rice yield trebles global average

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Mandy Zuoin Shanghai

A 'super rice' developed by hybrid rice breeder Yuan Longping has yielded a record 13.9 tonnes per hectare, more than triple the world average, agricultural experts said yesterday.

The latest achievement 'increases Chinese people's confidence that they can feed themselves on their own and provides technical support for ensuring China's food security', Yuan said at the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

'This breakthrough means our hybrid rice [technology] is well ahead of other countries.'

According to the latest statistics by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the world's average rice yield was about 4.3 tonnes per hectare in 2009.

The record yield was achieved on an experimental rice field divided into 18 plots in a village in Longhui county, Hunan .

Rice on three plots was harvested and taken to the academy on Sunday to assess the yield. One plot had been recommended by local growers while the other two were randomly selected by experts sent by the Ministry of Agriculture, Xinhua reported.

The average yield for the field was 927 kilograms per mu, or about 13.9 tonnes per hectare.

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