China strikes oil with new high-yield rapeseed, making strides in food security

Name: Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?
Uploaded: 2024-04-26T00:00:29.000Z
Duration: 7 min 58 s
Description: Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?

A variety of rapeseed in China has improved upon the yield of ordinary crops by 50 per cent, a step forward in the country’s quest for food self-reliance

Cost of production limits domestic output, leading China to rely on imports for edible oils and rendering the country vulnerable to trade disruptions

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China has revealed a new variety of rapeseed that has increased yields by 150 per cent. Photo: Simon Song

Mia Nurmamat

Published: 8:00am, 26 Apr 2024

Chinese researchers have developed a new rapeseed variety that improves upon typical yields by roughly 50 per cent, an innovation that will aid the country as it looks to buoy its self-sufficiency in vegetable oils and guard against unexpected disruptions to production.

The new crop has a harvested yield of 11.07kg per hectare, representing a potential oil output of around 4.89kg per hectare according to its developer, the Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

The yield is 51 per cent higher than the conventional variety, the institute said on Monday.

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Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?

“The technology can be implemented in winter fallow fields across the Yangtze River Basin and southern regions of China, ensuring the security of the country’s edible oil supply,” the institute said.

The discovery represents the latest advancement in the country’s efforts to build self-sufficiency in seed oils, as escalating geopolitical tensions, trade frictions and extreme weather events pose challenges to food security.

According to the institute, if the variety is widely planted on about 7 million hectares of viable southern fields which normally idle in the winter, it could increase rapeseed oil supplies by about 6.16 million tonnes annually.

The shorter fertility period is an important breakthrough

Hubei University professor

This widespread cultivation would increase the self-sufficiency rate of edible vegetable oils by 14.5 percentage points, which “is significantly important for ensuring the security of the edible oil supply,” the institute said.