he second harvest of genetically modified (GM) giant rice developed by the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been completed in trial farms in China. Aside from increased yield, the GM rice variety also exhibits increased resistance to pests and floods.
The high-yielding rice variety has double the height of conventional rice varieties. One of the local farmers who participated in the trials said the yield reached 12.6 tonnes per hectare. The trials were held in Sanzhou county, Guizhou province. This year's reported yield was approximately 1.8 times greater than the average Chinese rice yield in 2022, which was 7.1 tonnes per hectare, as the National Bureau of Statistics recorded.
This breakthrough aligns with the Chinese leaders' call to prioritize food production while facing multiple challenges, such as climate crisis, supply-chain disruptions, and geopolitical tensions.
[www.scmp.com]