Three new types of sea rice are transplanted in the Fangling reclamation area in Rudong county, Nantong. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Yuan Longping, known as the father of hybrid rice, passed away on May 22 at the age of 91, but his legacy and mission to end hunger live on.

In 2020, Yuan's team set up five demonstration bases throughout China for the planting of sea rice – a high-yield rice with high saline-alkaline resistance, allowing it to grow on mudflats and saline-alkaline soil.

The Fangling reclamation area in Rudong county, Nantong, provides ideal conditions for the tests, and it is the only demonstration base for the rice in East China's Jiangsu province.

The transplanting of three new types of saltwater-tolerant rice, commissioned by the team, was completed on June 11, according to Yu Yongjie, deputy head of Rudong's crop cultivation station.

This new experiment was inspired by last year's success, as a super hybrid rice called Chaoyou 1000, cultivated in the test field, achieved an average yield of 802.9 kilograms per mu (about 0.07 hectares) last year.

"The Fangling reclamation area currently has 4,000 mu of improved saline-alkali lands with varying salt content, ideal for research on different salt-tolerant varieties of rice and soil improvement experiments," said Shen Zhirong, a person in charge of the managing company of the reclamation area.

Key technologies for fertilization, rice cultivation, seedling transplantation, and crop protection from diseases, pests, and weeds will be applied flexibly according to weather changes and other conditions.

A complete sea rice chain has begun to take shape in Rudong, including cultivation, harvesting, drying, processing, and sales. In the next five or six years, more tidal flats and saline-alkali land will be transformed into fertile land, increasing food security for the country, according to a project leader.