Photo shows Yang Yuanzhu, an agricultural expert and vice president of Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Co., Ltd. in an exclusive interview with China Economic Net (CEN) at the 4th Yangling International Seed Industry Innovation Forum. [Photo/Li Fan]

by Chen Jiaqi

XI'AN, Oct. 29 (China Economic Net) - In order to ensure Pakistan's food security, experts from China are trying to solve the problem of seawater rice cultivation in saline-alkali soil. Yang Yuanzhu, an agricultural expert and vice president of Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Co., Ltd. , recently told the CEN that seawater rice, technically, is saline-alkali soil tolerant rice. "A new saline-alkali tolerant variety has been selected in Pakistan, and its saltwater tolerance is higher than Sea-rice 86 planted in Guangdong province. At present, selective breeding is still underway and seed cultivation generally takes eight to ten years."

Pakistan has about 500 to 600 million mu of land with heavy saline-alkaline content, which has a great impact. "Our experimental paddies in Lahore, Punjab, are highly saline. We want to solve the problem of saline-alkali soil cultivation in Pakistan,” he added.

It is not only Pakistan, but also China's task to improve rice cultivation in saline-alkali soil. Earlier this year, the Qingdao saline-alkali tolerant rice research and development center, led by Yuan Longping, a renowned agronomist dubbed China's "father of hybrid rice," launched an ambitious program of planting 100,000 mu (about 6,667 hectares), expanded from the previous 20,000 mu (about 1,333 hectares), of saline-alkali tolerant rice in ten bases across the country. The majority of these bases, such as that in Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, had estimated yields of more than 500 kg per mu, or 7.5 tonnes per hectare, this year.

Yuan and his team aim to turn 100 million mu (about 6.7 million hectares) of saline land into arable land, which they estimate can yield 30 billion kilograms of rice every year, feeding 80 to 100 million additional mouths.