World Grain - August 2021 - 6

FROM THE EDITOR
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor
Yuan Longping's
lifesaving legacy
he outpouring of respect and affection
shown by the Chinese
people for plant scientist Yuan
Longping after his death in late May
spoke volumes about a man whose
life's work rescued millions from hunger
and starvation.
Chinese media reported
T
that
after
Longping died at the age of 90, the funeral
home caring for his body received
hundreds of flower arrangements from
ordinary Chinese citizens. And although
he never joined the country's communist
party and expressed indifference toward
politics, the Chinese government
also honored him with the Medal of the
Republic (the highest honor in China)
in 2019 and selecting him to carry the
Olympic torch during the opening ceremonies
of the 2008 Games in Beijing.
How does a plant scientist become so
beloved? Much like an emergency responder,
Longping dedicated his life to
helping those in distress.
In 1973, Longping cultivated the
world's first high-yielding hybrid rice
strain, which recorded an annual yield
20% higher than existing varieties,
meaning it could feed an extra 70 million
people per year. Until this breakthrough,
the world's scientific community
was skeptical that rice could be
crossbred. More importantly, Longping
shared his discovery with the world
rather than offer it exclusively to China.
The early part of Longping's career
coincided with the worst famine in modern
Chinese history, as tens of millions
died of starvation in the late 1950s. The
situation was only marginally better in
the 1960s, as an unacceptable percentage
of the Chinese population still faced
food insecurity.
" Famished, you would eat whatever
there was to eat, even grass roots and
tree bark, " Longping wrote in his memoir.
" At that time, I became even more
6
determined to solve the problem of how
to increase food production so that ordinary
people would not starve. " Longping
not only helped China achieve
food self-sufficiency, his cross-breeding
techniques also impacted millions of
people in other food-insecure countries.
In 1980, he donated rice strains to the
International Rice Research Institute,
which used them to develop hybrid varieties
that could grow in tropical regions.
Longping also traveled to countries such
as India and Madagascar to teach farmers
how to grow hybrid rice.
In 2004, Longping's many achievements
earned him the World Food Prize,
an honor created by Norman Borlaug,
the Nobel Peace Prize-winning American
scientist known as the " Father of the
Green Revolution " for his plant-breeding
techniques
that
alleviated
world
hunger during the latter half of the 20th
century. Longping's legacy rivals that
of Borlaug, and since Longping's work
involved rice, the primary food grain for
half the world's population, particularly
the poor, it could be argued that his impact
was at least as great as that of Borlaug,
whose work was primarily focused
on wheat, a lesser-consumed grain.
One thing Longping and Borlaug had
in common was they kept working into
their 90s. The passion to improve mankind
through plant breeding stayed with
Longping until his dying
day.
Longping was once
quoted as saying: " Everyone
is like a seed.
We should try to grow
into good people. " It is
a fitting epitaph for a man whose good
work with hybrid seeds rescued so many
from hunger and starvation.
Arvin Donley
Editor
Managing Editor
Associate Editor
China Consultant
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World Grain - August 2021

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