Yuan Longping, who is 88 years old, is one of the renowned Chinese scientists who I admire the most. Dubbed China’s “father of hybrid rice,” Yuan has contributed a lot to the country’s rice yields and food security since the 1970s. His research team in Qingdao, Shandong Province, has recently used molecular breeding technologies to develop a kind of “sea-water rice.” Also known as salt-resistant rice, it is cultivated to grow in tidal flats or other areas with saline or alkaline land. Compared with traditional rice, salt-resistant rice has its unique advantages which can bring health benefits to human beings. It has more mineral content than ordinary rice because salt water contains higher level of microelements. Moreover, salt-resistant rice grown in a natural environment is not contaminated by heavy metals and isn’t subject to plant diseases and pests. Besides Qingdao, Yuan’s research team has extended trial planting of the rice to five other places of saline or alkaline land all over China. The five sites include Kashgar in Xinjiang, Daqing in Heilongjiang, Dongying in Shandong, Wenzhou in Zhejiang and Yan’an in Shaanxi, representing almost all types of salty land in the country. Trial planting has also been spread to desert areas of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, turning out to be an example of international cooperation under China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The scientific experiment is expected to further extend to the Middle East, North Africa and other places all over the world. At present, our world has 950 million hectares of land that is saline or alkaline, with Asia accounting for a third of the total. Growing rice in places such as bogs, swamps, clayish land and brackish coasts is now virtually impossible. If the commercial viability of salt-resistant rice can be improved, it will not only turn vast areas of wasteland green, but also offer new and safe option of staple for human beings. |