The 1.8 mu (1 hectare=15 mu) of hybrid rice, bred by Prof. Yuan Longping, "Father of Hybrid Rice", academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, has hit a record output of 1138.14 kg. The yield has exceeded the theoretic highest output by 78.14 kg as estimated by the international rice research institute.
According to Yuan Longping, this high-yield paddy lies in Taoyuan village of Yongsheng county, Yunnan Province. From 1998 on, the experimental field has witnessed successive bumper harvests with per mu yield stabilizing at 1100 kg or so. Though the paddy is not large in area, said Yuan Longping, the encouragingly high and steady yield has indicated a great potential in China's grain production. This is of great significance for China, a country with such a large population yet fewer arable land in the world.
Yuan said that China ranks the fourth in the world in per mu yield of rice, over 100 kg lower than that of Australia, No.1 rice producing country in the world. Due to the limitation of varied climate conditions, some advantages of our high-yield hybrid rice still haven't been brought into full play, but the successful practice in Yunnan Province has proven that China has a great potential in the production of super-hybrid rice.
According to Yuan, China has already had the essential conditions for proliferating super-hybrid rice in large areas. This year has seen 3 million mu of hybrid rice planted and it is expected to exceed 10 million mu next year.
(People's Daily 11/07/2000)
