CHINA-AGRICULTURE: CHINA DEVELOPING NEARLY 67000 HECTARES OF SALINE-ALKALI LAND FOR GROWING SEAWATER RICE

A team of rice experts led by 90-year old Yuan Longping, a leading agricultural scientist, Chairman of the International Seawater Rice Forum and academician with Chinese Academy of Engineering,  announced (January 15) at a 2-day international forum in Sanya, Hainan, on a saline-alkali tolerant type of rice called seawater rice that  400,000 hectares of saline-alkali lands have been obtained nationwide for producing and commercializing the rice this year. He said "We will strive to turn about 66,667 hectares of saline-alkali lands into saline-alkali rice growing demonstration areas in 2021, and achieve the goal of turning 6.67 million hectares of saline-alkali land into rice fields as soon as possible". Zhang Guodong, Executive Deputy Director of Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center, added "Contracts have been signed with companies and local governments of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Gansu, Qinghai and Heilongjiang provinces".

(Comment: Food security is a major national security issue for China, whose leadership is highly vigilant regarding grain security, especially amid the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.)






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