'Father of hybrid rice' develops new variety that beats his own world record

Yuan Longping, "the father of hybrid rice", has set a new world record for hybrid rice production by developing a variety that yields an average of more than 15 tonnes per hectare.

The Ministry of Agriculture announced the news yesterday after experts measured the yields of Yuan's latest batch in Xupu county, Hunan province.

Yuan's new world record stood at an average of 15.4 tonnes per hectare for a field of 1,500 hectares - a 4 per cent increase from the previous record of 14.8 tonnes, set by him in September last year.

Yuan began work on super hybrid rice in 1996. His output per hectare exceeded 10 tonnes in 2000, and hit 12 tonnes in 2004.

Super hybrid rice, which originated in Japan, is superior to other varieties in terms of yield, quality and resistance to disease.

By 2013, Yuan and his team had developed 126 varieties of super hybrid rice, grown in 46.7 million hectares of rice fields. Super hybrid rice last year accounted for 29.1 per cent of all the rice fields on the mainland.

Yuan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, hailed the breakthrough, saying it showed that the Chinese "have the ability to hold their bowls tightly in their own hands", a website affiliated to the academy reported.