China's hybrid rice promotes localization of overseas seed production to protect global food security

China News Service, Changsha, October 15th (Tang Xiaoting and Li Ying) "Develop hybrid rice to benefit people around the world." Yuan Longping's hybrid rice innovation team of the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center said in a recent interview with reporters in Changsha that the team continues to pursue academician Yuan Longping's long-cherished wish to continue to research ultra-high-yield seed production technology, break the core bottleneck of hybrid rice going overseas, steadily promote the implementation of the "global hybrid rice dream", and contribute Chinese solutions to global food security.

"In 2012, Master (Yuan Longping) mentioned on his way back from an inspection in India that the local hybrid rice seed production yield was low, which restricted overseas promotion. He repeatedly told us to have a sense of urgency and responsibility to overcome the problem of ultra-high-yield seed production." Team leader Deng Huafeng recalled.

After the death of Academician Yuan Longping, the team continued to carry out research on ultra-high-yield seed production. After years of improvement, this technology can stably achieve high yields in different regions and under diverse climatic conditions, and the yield records have been set one after another. "The biggest technical obstacle for hybrid rice going global is that the seed production technology is difficult to replicate overseas. Only by further increasing the seed production yield can the vision of hybrid rice covering the world be better realized," said Deng Huafeng.

Shu Shuang, a researcher at the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, said that in order to promote the promotion and application of hybrid rice in co-building countries, China's Ministry of Science and Technology approved the construction of a China-Madagascar hybrid rice "Belt and Road" joint laboratory in 2024. At present, the hybrid rice varieties screened and cultivated in Madagascar by the laboratory and Yuan's Seed Industry have an average yield of 7.5 tons per hectare, which is about 2.7 times that of local conventional varieties (average 2.8 tons per hectare).

"Seed supply is a prominent bottleneck in the overseas promotion of hybrid rice." Shu Shu said that the laboratory proposed the idea of ​​localized seed production and actively promoted the on-site production of hybrid rice seeds in Madagascar.

In July 2025, at the hybrid rice seed production base near Sambava, Madagascar, hybrid rice experts from the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences inspected the situation of hybrid rice seed production. (Photo courtesy of Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center)

Through continuous technical research and demonstration planting, more than 70 countries around the world are conducting hybrid rice research or planting, and the hybrid rice planting area abroad is nearly 8 million hectares. Tang Wenbang, director of the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, said that China's overseas promotion of hybrid rice takes Madagascar as a fulcrum and radiates to Africa and other co-building countries, adopting a parallel model of technology export and two-way talent training.

"The scientific research team cultivates reserve forces in layers and cooperates with multiple universities to carry out joint training of postgraduate students." Tang Wenbang revealed that Hunan Agricultural University will open a "Longping Class" this year to reserve scientific research talents in hybrid rice.

"Hybrid rice is currently most effective in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Pakistan." Liu Aimin, a researcher at the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, said that overseas promotion adopts a dual path of "seed export + local seed production": domestic seed industry companies export seeds, and scientific research institutions set up overseas R&D centers in many countries to select and breed varieties suitable for local ecology.

"Talent training is also an important part of international cooperation." Liu Aimin said that the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center and Longping High-tech have established a training academy to receive technical personnel from Africa and Southeast Asia for systematic training in China. Chinese experts go overseas to teach on-site and improve the capabilities of local technical personnel step by step. (over)