Yuan Longping's unrequited love affair with Henan

Yuan Longping carefully inspected the growth of super hybrid rice in the fields of Shangcheng County

Henan Daily reporter Wang Xiangqian

Academician Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice" who has an important relationship with food security in modern China, died on May 22 at the age of 91.

In his lifetime, he has come to Henan many times. Henan has a deep affection for him.

When he was 6 years old, he took a family photo in front of Jigong Mountain

Academician Yuan Longping has been dealing with rice all his life. His contacts with Henan are mainly concentrated in Xinyang City, one of henan's main rice-producing areas.

He first became acquainted with Henan, and happened to be in Xinyang.

In 1936, Yuan Longping's father worked in the Pinghan Railway Bureau. Less than a year later, the iron hooves of the Japanese Kou trampled on, the great rivers and mountains of the motherland were wantonly ravaged, and the people were displaced and starved. Whenever he thought of this, Yuan Longping was full of resentment.

"Yuan Longping's Autobiography" contains photos of his family playing in front of Xiaofeng in Jigongshan when he was 6 years old and the story behind the photos.

Come to the ground to guide the high yield of rice

After engaging in rice research, in September 2008, Yuan Longping came to Shangcheng County, Henan Province again to guide rice planting, and gladly applied for the general consultant of 5 million mu of hybrid rice and "planting three yields and four yields" in Xinyang City. As a result, Xinyang became the largest "high-yield demonstration field" in the country at that time, and Yuan Longping put the second and third phases of the super hybrid rice research project with a yield of 800 kilograms per mu and 900 kilograms per mu in The second and third phases were also placed in Xinyang for testing.

The test field in Xinyang, Yuan Longping went 4 times in 8 years. In less than 6 years, Xinyang's hybrid rice production has also gone from 8 billion to 11 billion catties, becoming one of the 18 provinces and municipalities in the country that produce more than 10 billion catties of grain.

Helping Henan achieve the "Prime Minister's Mission"

Xinyang is one of Yuan Longping's rice hybridization test sites. Henan is an important part of his ambition to let "people in the world have food to eat" in his compassion for heaven and people.

On August 28, 2015, Yuan Longping went to the Modern Agricultural Experimental Zone of Henan Grain Crop Collaborative Innovation Center in Guangshan County to conduct a pre-harvest "pre-assessment" of the super hybrid rice "100 million" high-yield demonstration project.

In this test area, the seeds are not ordinary rice, but super hybrid rice varieties such as "Super Excellent 1000", "Y Liangyou 900" and "Y Liangyou 143" selected by Yuan Longping.

Behind this is Yuan Longping's ambition to help Henan achieve the "premier's task".

On January 17, 2014, Premier Li Keqiang proposed to Yuan Longping at the symposium of the "Government Work Report (Draft for Comments)": "Super hybrid rice research should not only be 100 mu, but also 100 mu and 100 mu, and we must support you!" ”

In the face of the prime minister's entrustment, in March 2014, led by Yuan Longping, the National Hybrid Rice Engineering and Technology Research Center and Henan Agricultural University cooperated to implement the super hybrid rice "100 million" high-yield demonstration project in Guangshan County.

On September 15, 2015, the expert group organized by the Department of Agriculture of Henan Province conducted an on-site inspection of three thousand mu of super hybrid rice demonstration films in Guangshan County and the actual cutting test and acceptance results showed that the yield of 1,000 mu mu exceeded 900 kg and reached a maximum of 913.9 kg. The large-scale high yield of thousands of acres of contiguous areas is the first time in the country.

The "Prime Minister's Mission" was completed ahead of schedule.

Preaching and teaching Henan to receive disciples

In the comings and goings, Yuan Longping and Henan formed a deep friendship.

Yuan Longping was hired by Henan Agricultural University as the chief rice scientist of the Henan Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain Crops led by the "2011 Plan" led by the university. In September 2015, yuan Longping recruited the first batch of disciples in Henan Tonkin Agricultural University, including 1 doctoral student and 2 master's students.

"I was very excited, very proud, my parents told me to study hard, the opportunity is rare." When receiving the acceptance letter, Li Mengqi, a 2011 student at Henan Agricultural University, said, "My classmates are very envious of me. ”

Becoming a student of "big name" Yuan Longping is a blessing, but it is not easy. Because they shoulder the responsibility of guarding national food security.

Today, Academician Yuan Longping has left us. In the eyes of people all over the world, Yuan Longping, a Chinese who has been rooted in grain production all his life, is really remarkable.