CCTV reports on YNU rice cultivation breakthrough

China Central Radio and Television recently interviewed professor Hu Fengyi at the Agricultural College of Yunnan University, or YNU – located in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province – to produce a news program on a subject of vital interest to agriculture.

The news item, which was broadcast on the CCTV-17 Agriculture and Rural Channel on April 3, reported on the arduous process and practical effects of Hu's research of more than 20 years into transforming standard rice into perennial rice – long-lived rice capable of regrowing season after season without reseeding.

Hu and his research team are said to have created perennial rice breeding resource materials with high utilization value and to have bred the world's first approved and commercialized perennial rice variety.

Hu (center) and his team members check out rice that they are cultivating in Yunnan province. [Photo/WeChat account of YNU]

The research findings are said to be highly original and significant, creating a breakthrough in the breeding of perennial grain crops.

From 2019 to 2020, some 120,000 mu (8,000 hectares) of perennial rice was cultivated – saving an estimated 1.6 million yuan ($251,398) in seed costs and about 66.75 million yuan in production costs – showing the broad application prospects and the applications potential, which can be rapidly expanded.