Yuan Longping, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and winner of the “Medal of the Republic”, passed away at 13:07 on May 22 at the age of 91 in Changsha, Hunan.
He devoted his life to the research, application and promotion of hybrid rice technology, creating a super hybrid rice technology system and making outstanding contributions to China’s food security and the development of agricultural science in the world’s food supply.
Yuan Longping engaged in teaching after graduation, and started rice breeding due to food shortages
After graduating from Southwest Agricultural College in 1953, Yuan Longping was assigned to Hunan Anjiang Agricultural School as a teacher. Yuan Longping was initially engaged in the research and teaching of sweet potato breeding. But at that time, the country was very short of food. So he turned to rice breeding, which the country needed most.
One day in July 1961, Yuan Longping discovered that a rice plant had as many as 230 grains. He estimated that using this rice plant as a seed would have a yield of more than 500 kg per mu, while the high-yield rice was only 200 or 300 kg.
At that time, the world’s authoritative genetics believed that rice did not have hybrid advantages. However, Yuan Longping continued to select seeds in the experimental field. In 1964, he discovered a “natural male sterile plant”. After 9 years, he finally succeeded in the “three-line matching method” of hybrid rice, which increased the yield by about 20% compared with conventional rice, achieving a historic breakthrough in hybrid rice. From 1976 to 1987, China’s hybrid rice output increased by more than 100 million tons, and the annual increase in rice production can feed more than 60 million people.
Who will feed Chinese people?
In the 1990s, American economist Brown asked the world about “who will feed China”. In this context, China has proposed a super rice breeding program. The scientific research team led by Yuan Longping has successively solved the problem of super-high-yield rice breeding. The five phases of super rice yields of 700 kg, 800 kg, 900 kg, 1,000 kg and 1100 kg per mu have been successively completed.
Yuan Longping’s team set world records time and time again, and gave the Chinese their own answers to the questions of this century.
Academician Yuan Longping spent his life on rice breeding. “People were starving, I have seen it with my own eyes.” When a reporter asked him if he would be afraid of such a scene again, he replied firmly, “It’s impossible!”
After being awarded the “Medal of the Republic” in 2019, he said, “I can’t lie on my laurels. I must try my best to make new contributions. My biggest wish is that the rice bowl must be firmly in the hands of us Chinese.”
Every grain comes from hard and laborious toil
Having experienced the pain of food shortages, Yuan Longping’s generation cherishes food especially. In 2013, what Yuan Longping said in an interview sounded a wake-up call to countless people. “We have worked hard to increase rice yields. It is difficult to increase the yield of rice by 5kg or 2.5kg per mu. After the yield has been increased, then it was wasted again. Every grain comes from hard and laborious toil. Wasting of foods is shameful and even more criminal”. Cherishing food is also Yuan Longping’s requirement for students. He once said that he had a condition to choose graduate students and not take them. Only those who have personally experienced the hardships of the day of hoeing in the fields will have a deep understanding of the hardships of every day.
Yuan Longping dream of “Cooling under the ear of rice ” and “Covering the World”
Near the age of 90, Yuan Longping still went to the test field to “check in” every day. He said he had to complete two more goals before he could retire with confidence. The first is to demonstrate a large area of hybrid rice with a yield of 1,200 kg per mu, and the second is to cultivate salt-tolerant sea rice, turning the sea into a mulberry field.
He has been working hard towards these two goals.
Yuan Longping has talked about his two dreams many times. In addition to the dream of allowing hybrid rice to cover the world, there is another “dream of enjoying the coolness under the grass”. He once dreamed that the super hybrid rice in the experimental field grew taller than sorghum, the ears were as big as a broom, and the grains were as big as peanuts. He and his assistants sat under the waterfall-like ears of rice to enjoy the cool.
Yuan Longping hope for the Youth
Yuan Longping once sent a message to young people who are pursuing their dreams. He said that young people should work hard for their ideals and not be affected by bad phenomena. You really have achievements and contributions will be rewarded.”
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