Perennial rice researched by YNU team selected as national leading variety

Hu (middle) and his team inspect rice they are cultivating in Yunnan province. [Photo/ynu.edu.cn]

The perennial rice variety – long-living rice capable of re-growing season after season without reseeding – created by Hu Fengyi's team at Yunnan University (YNU) was selected as the leading variety for grain and oil production announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and it is the only variety selected for national rice production in Yunnan province this year.

Based on long-term basic research on Oryza longistaminata, the team invented the method of cultivating perennial rice by using the vegetative reproduction characteristics of Oryza longistaminata and was authorized for a national invention patent. The method won the first prize at the Yunnan Provincial Technology Invention Awards in 2021 .

This perennial rice variety has become the world's first commercialized perennial food crop variety. In 2018, it was selected as an innovative technology of the South-South Cooperation project of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and was highly praised by international counterparts.

So far, the technology has been successfully tested in Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Iran, Uganda and other countries in South and Southeast Asia and Africa involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, with a cumulative application of more than 200,000 mu (13,333 hectares). It eliminates the need for five to six laborers and 500 yuan ($72) to 600 yuan in labor input per mu.