Wuhan, China, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Farooq Mahdi, Pakistan Agricultural Advisory Committee official, recently met Zhu Yingguo (Chinese academician of Academy of Engineering) in Wuhan, and who is considered as "the father of the Honglian-type hybrid rice". Farooq excitedly said: "The planting area of the Honglian-type hybrid rice in Pakistan is becoming larger and larger, but today I finally get to meet the scientist who fostered it."

Farooq Mahdi is mainly engaged in the China-Pakistan cooperation in agricultural projects, and he put forward his wish to Zhu Yingguo: “I hope China and Pakistan could strenghthen cooperation in planting the Honglian-type hybrid rice varieties, and together we would make a greater contribution to food security of the world.”

The Honglian-type hybrid rice is a Chinese new breed, and at present, it is still in infancy.  However, in recent years, the Honglian-type hybrid rice found an increasing market overseas because of its high yield,  good quality and wide adaptability.

According to the State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice Research of Wuhan University, the Honglian-type hybrid rice adjusts to the tropical climate and land conditions of growth better than other hybrid rice produced in China. At present, it has been already registered and promoted in Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Burma, etc.

In addition to the Southeast Asian countries, the Honglian-type hybrid rice is also famous in the African market.

This year, the Chinese company which takes part in agricultural cooperation projects with Cameroon, planted three varieties of Honglian-type hybrid rice there. From this year's harvest, the yield of these three varieties reached 600 kg, much higher than other hybrid rice varieties in the local performance.

Director of the Chinese Rice Institute Cheng Shihua said :“The Honglian-type hybrid rice has many obvious advantages, such as high yield, good grain quality, wide applicability, high resistance, less fertilizer required. less, It belongs to environmentally friendly type varieties.” In 2009 , it was recognized as the “Chinese Super Hybrid Rice”.”

Zhu Yingguo said, since this year, the agricultural sectors of Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan and other countries have expressed the hope to further deepen cooperation with us; and they also wanted to carry out cooperation in terms of scientific research, application and promotion, personnel training and other aspects.

Some experts thinkthe promotion of the Honglian-type hybrid rice will bring a win-win effect: helping improving the yield and quality of grain in Southeast Asia, Africa etc, and ensuring food supply; helping Chinese hybrid rice technology promotion overseas, and also enhancing the Chinese influence in terms of rights to talk in world food security issues.

"Over the past 40 years, our basic research had been done fully and solidly. Now we need more colleges, universities, scientific research institutes and enterprises to join us in applying the project in agriculture. . In view of scientific research coordination, we hope to get support from a national level.” Zhu Yingguo said.

(Rewritten by Yuqian Zhang, edited by Diana & Sijia Hu)

For more information about Professor Zhu Yingguo, please refer to http://en.whu.edu.cn/info/1073/1590.htm