QU DONGYU, director-general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on Saturday expressed his sadness over the death of Yuan Longping.

“Deeply saddened by the death of Prof. Yuan Longping, my dear Master. He devoted his life to the research of hybrid rice, helping billions achieve food security,” wrote Qu on his Twitter account.

Some European media also reported Yuan’s death. Spanish international news agency EFE said that “the agronomist was considered a hero in the Asian country because of his first hybrid rice crops.”

Yuan will be long remembered as one of the “most laudable leaders” who helped feed the world, the World Food Prize (WFP) Foundation, which honored the Chinese scientist 17 years ago, said.

Yuan was a co-winner of the 2004 World Food Prize, the top international honor recognizing the feats of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Yuan shared the prize with Monty Jones, an African rice breeder.

Yuan received the honor for his “breakthrough achievement” in developing the genetic materials and technologies essential for breeding high-yielding hybrid rice varieties, and his “pioneering research” has helped transform China from food deficiency to food security within three decades.

Barbara Stinson, president of the WFP Foundation, said Yuan was credited not only for hybrid rice, but also for the ability to then shift land base out of rice production and into other kinds of food production, including fish ponds, other fruits and vegetables, increasing the nutritional content of food in China, and thereby contributing to the reduction of hunger and poverty as well.

In particular, Yuan’s generosity in making his technology available to the world is profound in ending world hunger, Stinson said.

For more than a decade, the World Food Prize Foundation has placed young U.S. agriculture students on Borlaug-Ruan International Internships in the China national hybrid rice development center in Changsha, of which Yuan had been the general director.

(Xinhua)