Yuan Longping talks about the Year of Sheep: Strive to realize super rice per hectare ahead of schedule

Yuan Longping (third from right) looks at the panicle of super rice in Hunan province. Photo taken by Zeng Yong (file photo)

"the target of 16 tons per hectare of super rice was originally planned to be achieved in 2018, but we strive for a breakthrough next year!" "the year of the Sheep is coming soon, and our super rice is the leader." Talking about his wish for the year of the Goat, Yuan Longping, a famous rice expert, is still talking about his beloved rice. The 84-year-old man, who had just finished breeding in Hainan, arrived in Beijing for a meeting on the evening of February 8. During Yuan Longping's tense itinerary, we met several times and were finally able to talk about his story with rice on the 9th.

Frank and sincere

It's not good to be old, it's annoying.

As "the most famous farmer" in China, Yuan Longping has been given too many titles, such as "contemporary Shennong", "master of farming", "father of hybrid rice" and "meritorious figure of seed industry". The name Yuan Longping represents China's scientific progress and self-confidence since the reform and opening up.

"too many. I have too many halos. There are 18 international awards alone." Yuan Longping touched his head with his hand, leaning back and smiling shyly. This self-proclaimed "post-80s" old man has a strong body and a quick mind. Take off those "halos", the scientist who is closely related to "not going hungry", peaceful and confident. "it's not good to be old," he said. "it's annoying."

In the interview, Yuan Longping answered the question logically and clearly before the reporter's question was mentioned. He is also frank. "I give interviews at least three times a week, which is extremely frequent." The words were accompanied by the hearty laughter of "ha". Asked about the anecdote that someone was playing music behind and Yuan Longping pretended to be a violin, he laughed heartily. "I'm a typical Mr. Nanguo!"

Despite his strong "Xiangpu", Yuan Longping's English words are pronounced pure: "We say the United States is a superpower, super power country", "Africans eat cassava, cassava". When you praise him for his good English, he smiles and says, "my English is broken English."

Love

I go to the fields every day to see my super rice.

How much love is love, and how much love is love? If you understand Yuan Longping's feelings for rice, you will know what love and love will look like to the extreme.

"I go to the fields every day to see my dear super rice!" When it comes to his super rice, Yuan Longping's eyes will be bright, the kind of deep feelings contained in it, moving people.

In the 1990s, American economist Gordon Brown asked the world: "who will feed China in the 21st century?" Yuan Longping and his super rice not only answered this question forcefully, but also contributed to world peace and progress.

Yuan Longping once saw in a dream that rice grew as tall as sorghum and seeds the size of peanuts. He and his assistants sat under the ears of rice to enjoy the cool.

In October last year, the average yield of 100 mu of the fourth phase of the Super Rice Program reached 1026.7 kilograms per mu. The good news of setting another world record made his "Dream of enjoying the coolness under Wo Xia" a step forward and made him more confident. "there are the fifth, sixth and seventh stages of super rice." To devote oneself to the cause of breeding and devote all our energies to the study of rice, hybrid rice and super hybrid rice means to focus on the field and warm all sentient beings.

"Hunan should be built into a Silicon Valley for the seed industry." "the president of South China Agricultural University called my super rice the nuclear weapon of rice." Yuan Longping could not say without his dear super rice: "nothing is dear, only rice is dear."

Preciseness

Climbing the mountain courageously is a quality that scientists should have, but the realization of scientific dreams must have a scientific basis.

Yuan Longping has been pushed to the forefront because of talking about genetically modified organisms. This time, other media interviewed at the same time finally raised this question, Yuan Longping said, how to say this again …... He seems to be really helpless about these troubles.

Yuan Longping likes the title "agricultural scientist" most. He is both an old farmer and a scientist. He introduces the "four good matches" and explains how the "dream of hybrid rice covering the world" can be realized and how to break through the rice yield limit. In his view, the realization of scientific dreams must have a scientific basis.

From the first phase to the fourth phase of the super rice plan, the yield per mu has successively exceeded 700kg, 800kg, 900kg and 1000 kg. Each increase has attracted much attention. Is there a peak in the unit yield of rice? "some international rice experts believe that the theoretical limit of rice yield is 15.9 tons per hectare, and our new goal is to break through this limit and achieve a yield of 16 tons per hectare." In his view, it is the quality and courage of scientists to sprint to the limit and scale scientific heights courageously, but "the dream of science must be realized by science," Yuan Longping said. in theory, the utilization rate of surface solar energy by photosynthesis of rice can reach 5%. At present, the average yield of rice per mu in the country is about 800 jin, which is only equivalent to 1% of the utilization of light energy. Through scientific and technological progress, as long as the utilization rate of light energy is raised to half the theoretical level, it means that the yield per mu will be doubled. There is still a long way to go to realize the dream of enjoying the cool under Hexia, but there is a scientific basis for this dream.

I wish my whole life would be full of warmth. After the New year, Yuan Longping will be with his dear super rice again, enjoying the happy time of basking in the sun and stepping on the mud.