China News Agency, Beijing, March 6th: To solve the problem of feeding 1.4 billion people, how can China break through the bottleneck of agricultural "chips"?

　　——Interview with Wan Jianmin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

　　China News Agency reporter Chen Suxiabin

　　Food is the paramount necessity of the people.

As a country with a large population, the problem of Chinese people eating has always attracted much attention.

With the continuous improvement of residents' living standards and the upgrading of food consumption, there are higher requirements and challenges for the "dining table" of 1.4 billion people.

Seeds are known as "agricultural chips" and are of great significance to continuously ensuring national food security.

In recent years, Chinese officials have proposed to "win the seed industry turnaround", and China's 2023 government work report has further proposed "in-depth implementation of seed industry revitalization actions."

Data map: On October 17, 2022, Tancheng County, Linyi City, Shandong Province, a gratifying scene of a bumper harvest in the fields.

China News Agency issued Fang Dehua photo source: CNSphoto

　　China News Agency invited Wan Jianmin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, to discuss the challenges facing China's seed industry and how to win the seed industry's turnaround and ensure food security. Share views and opinions.

An excerpt from the interview is as follows:

Reporter from China News Service: This year's government work report proposes to "intensify the implementation of the seed industry revitalization action". Why do you emphasize the revitalization of the seed industry?

From the perspective of food security, what is the current situation of China's seed industry?

What are the "stuck" problems facing agricultural "chips"?

Wan Jianmin:

At present, Chinese people’s food security is a big food security concept. “Seed industry revitalization” refers not only to crops, but also to livestock, poultry, aquatic products, forestry and grass, etc. These are the categories of food security and food security .

There are several reasons why China attaches great importance to the seed industry.

　　First, among the many technologies that increase grain production, improved varieties contribute the most to the increase in production. Currently, improved varieties of crops contribute more than 45% to the increase in production nationwide, and rice, wheat, corn, and soybeans average more than 50%.

　　Second, the current development of China's seed industry still cannot meet the needs of grain production and national economic development.

For example, if China wants to develop aquaculture, it needs feed crops such as soybeans and corn, especially soybeans. Compared with the advanced level of foreign countries, the per unit yield of soybeans in China is far behind, and the gap is constantly expanding.

In 1990, compared with advanced foreign countries, such as the United States, the yield per unit area of ​​soybeans in China was about 40 kilograms lower. By 2021, the yield per mu will be 102 kilograms lower.

An important reason for the widening gap in yield per unit area is the widening gap between the cultivation level of Chinese improved varieties and foreign countries.

　　At present, the development bottlenecks faced by China's seed industry include: some varieties rely on foreign countries, such as white-feathered broiler chickens, some high-end facility agricultural vegetable seeds rely on imports, and some dairy cows and live pigs still need to be imported. China's agricultural development is in great need of these imports Provenance.

Therefore, the development of the seed industry is a crucial issue for solving food security.

China News Agency reporter: In terms of major food crops, rice breeding in China ranks among the top in the world.

What are the current characteristics of China's rice seed industry?

What are the other bottlenecks in rice breeding?

Wan Jianmin:

China has been paying close attention to food security issues for a long time. In the breeding process of major food crops such as rice and wheat, the first pursuit goal is yield and yield per unit area.

Therefore, China's rice yield per unit area is at a relatively good level in the world, 70% higher than the international average level.

Now there are 450 million mu of rice in the country, with an average yield of about 474 kilograms.

However, the improvement of rice quality, including resistance to diseases and insect pests, and the ability to adapt to saline-alkali land or poor soil, etc. need to be strengthened.

　　In recent years, under the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China has made a lot of improvements to the quality of rice, and the eating quality of rice has been greatly improved. gap.

Therefore, the next step is to further improve the eating quality of rice, improve the level of resistance to diseases and insect pests, and improve the utilization efficiency of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the soil without reducing the yield, thereby reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and cultivating rice that is beneficial to the environment. Sustainable green variety.

China News Agency reporter: In July 2021, China issued the "Action Plan for Seed Industry Revitalization". Please talk about it in your field. How is the current progress of the seed industry revitalization action?

Wan Jianmin:

In recent years, China's seed industry revitalization has made great progress.

While dominant crops such as rice and wheat continue to maintain their leading yields, great progress has been made in crop quality improvement. For example, high-end and high-quality rice varieties have been initially successfully bred and are being continuously demonstrated and promoted. In addition, many varieties suitable for steamed bread and noodles have been successfully bred. Special-purpose wheat varieties for different purposes such as rice, bread, and biscuits have also been widely promoted.

At present, the quality of many noodles, steamed buns, dumplings and other pasta eaten by Chinese residents has been greatly improved.

Data map: On October 25, 2022, the rice fields of the Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park in Hangzhou, Zhejiang ushered in a bumper harvest season.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Yuhuan

China News Agency reporter: How to strengthen the national strategic scientific and technological strength, and make efforts to turn the seed industry back?

Wan Jianmin:

The turnaround of the seed industry cannot be achieved overnight, and requires a long-term process of hard work.

　　First, basic research should be strengthened in the field of agriculture, especially the molecular basis of some important traits. How to clarify the molecular basis of important traits such as yield, quality, and resistance is of positive significance to the improvement of varieties.

　　Second, we must speed up technological innovation, especially the core technology research.

For example, gene editing, whole genome selection, synthetic biology technology and intelligent design technology in breeding technology.

In recent years, the development of big data and artificial intelligence, and the combination of information technology and biotechnology have promoted the development of traditional breeding to modern biotechnology breeding.

It is very important to master these technological innovations. Some patents of current gene editing technologies are still held by foreign multinational companies.

In recent years, with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China has also made some progress and breakthroughs in this area, but a lot of work still needs to be done to apply these technologies to breeding systematically and efficiently.

　　Third, we must endure loneliness and focus on cultivating breakthrough varieties.

China has to approve many varieties every year, but some varieties are still homogeneous and have no breakthrough progress. In the future, we need to spend a certain amount of energy to cultivate some major breakthrough varieties that meet the country's major needs.

For example, the quality has been greatly improved, the resistance to diseases and insect pests has been greatly improved, or the efficient use of resources has been greatly improved, rather than some repetitive and low-level improvements to existing varieties.

China News Agency reporter: China proposes to build a strong agricultural country with Chinese characteristics. What should our strong agricultural country look like?

Wan Jianmin:

To build a strong agricultural country with Chinese characteristics, the first is to have strong science and technology and strong scientific research capabilities.

At present, China's agricultural scientific research capabilities still mainly exist in scientific research institutes and universities, but the seed industry is an industry, so not only universities and scientific research institutes have strong scientific research capabilities, but enterprises must also have strong scientific and technological research and development capabilities.

We must strengthen basic research, strengthen technological development, and strengthen the cultivation of major varieties.

　　The second is strong industry.

To be able to closely integrate the seed industry with agricultural production, the enterprises in the seed industry must also have strong operational and sales capabilities. At the same time, cultivate technological enterprises with international competitiveness and promote the continuous accumulation of technological innovation elements in the seed industry to enterprises. Therefore, we must pay attention to universities and scientific research institutes Organic synergy and integration with enterprises.

　　The third is to ensure a strong supply capacity.

For the concept of food security, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) divides it into three stages.

The first stage is quantity assurance, the second stage is quality assurance, and the third stage is to meet the diverse needs of consumers.

At present, China's food security is still in the first stage. The quantity is guaranteed, but the quality still needs to be worked hard. It is still difficult to meet the diverse needs of consumers. Therefore, a lot of work needs to be done in this regard.

　　At the same time, better economic benefits should be given to farmers and agricultural producers, including subsidy policies for agricultural product prices should be further improved.

At present, there is still a mismatch between the prices of major agricultural products and production costs, which can easily dampen farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain, which is detrimental to overall food security. Therefore, enabling farmers to obtain corresponding economic benefits is an important aspect of ensuring the supply of agricultural products .

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