Song Chunfang still remembers his teacher Yuan Longping, known as the "father of hybrid rice," telling them to speed up the promotion of hybrid rice in Madagascar before their trip to the country in October 2020.
Yuan Longping, famous for developing the first high-yield hybrid rice strain capable of eliminating (消灭) hunger for large numbers of people, died of organ failure at 91 on May 22, 2021.
In April 1979, Yuan presented his paper to an international academic conference on hybrid rice in Manila, sharing China's experience in hybrid rice research with the rest of the world. Over four decades, research teams working on hybrid rice have been promoting the technology overseas. So far, Yuan's hybrid rice has been grown in more than 60 countries, with a total growing area of 8 million hectares (公顷) outside China, according to the China National Hybrid Rice R&D Center where Yuan worked.
Established in Madagascar in 2019, the African sub-center is the only overseas sub-center of China's national hybrid rice engineering technology research center, and it is functioning well. Chinese experts in the sub-center set up a service chain including providing seeds, relevant training and technical guidance. More than 100 skilled local trainees were given online courses to become hybrid rice experts who can better serve the needs of local farmers. So far, the sub-center has approved three hybrid rice varieties in Madagascar, with two other varieties suitable for growing in most regions of the country expected to gain approval this year.