distinguished guest: Wan Jianmin Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
　　 interview: Gao Yuncai, Yu Jingxian, reporter of People's Daily
　　 host: Zhang Guigui, Editor in Chief of People's Network Powerful Forum

host: hello everyone! Here is a new media interview program - People's e-Finance jointly launched by the People's Daily Powerful Forum, People's Daily Spicy Finance Studio and the national party media information public platform. Recently, we launched a series of expert interviews "2021 New Economic Observation".

The guest of this issue is Wan Jianmin, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Our reporter interviewed Vice President Wan Jianmin face to face at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

1. Why attach importance to seed industry to ensure national food security?

Wan Jianmin: To solve the problem of food security, we must improve the production capacity per unit area. Seed varieties are one of the most basic factors that determine output. Ensuring seed industry security is the most basic and core basis for solving national food security.

Over the years, China's seed industry has made considerable progress. Our rice and wheat yields are in a good position in the world, and the rice yield is about 1.7 times the world average.

China has about 450 million mu of rice planting area, and our average yield per unit area is about 38 kg lower than that of the United States. However, if we take the rice yield per unit area of Jiangsu Province as an example, it is 30 kg to 40 kg higher than that of the United States. The per unit yield of soybean and corn in China lags far behind that in the United States. The R&D investment in soybean and corn seeds needs to be further strengthened. We must attach great importance to increasing the per unit area yield of soybean and corn to ensure the country's food security.

On the other hand, the concept of food security has also undergone profound changes. We should pay attention not only to rice and wheat, but also to the improvement of animal products, such as pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens and other animal varieties.

2. What needs to be done to turn the seed industry around?

Wan Jianmin: It is very important for governments at all levels to attach great importance to the important role of seed industry in national food security. At the technical level, four aspects of work must be further strengthened.

The first is the collection, sorting, identification and efficient utilization of germplasm resources. Variety breeding must have germplasm resources. Only with good germplasm resources can we breed good varieties. In the past, we did not pay enough attention to the protection of germplasm resources, which needs to be further strengthened.

Second, it is necessary to strengthen the self-reliance of seed industry science and technology. When we talk about food security today, we can't simply understand it as quantity. We also need high-quality food that can meet the needs of different people. This is a new height and new requirement of our food security, and it is also the work we must do in the future.

Third, the seed industry must be strong, and seed enterprises must be strong. At present, there are about 6000 seed enterprises in China, but the R&D capacity and level need to be further strengthened. In countries with advanced seed industry in the world, the scientific and technological innovation ability of seed industry is almost completed by enterprises. In other words, it is very important to build the innovation capability with enterprises as the main body.

Fourth, enterprises must clarify intellectual property rights if they want to invest in seed industry research. If intellectual property rights are not fully protected, enterprises are unwilling to invest in such research.

In short, to strengthen the development of seed industry, it is necessary to further strengthen the research and collection of germplasm resources, strengthen the innovation of biological breeding technology, including gene mining, germplasm innovation, strengthen the research of new breeding technology, especially the "choke" technology, and promote the cultivation and industrialization of major varieties. At the same time, we should also strengthen the innovation ability of enterprises and cultivate enterprises with international competitiveness.

3. What work is being promoted in seed research?

Wan Jianmin: I myself am engaged in rice research. What we are promoting now is mainly in two aspects: one is to improve the yield per unit area of rice, and the other is to improve the quality of rice.

There are two subspecies of rice in China, one is indica rice in the south, and the other is japonica rice in the north. The heterosis between indica rice and japonica rice is stronger, and the yield may be higher. However, there are three problems to be solved. First, the seed setting rate of indica japonica hybrid will decline, and the seed setting rate of general rice is more than 90%. However, after indica japonica hybrid, although the spike is large, the number of grains is large, and the seed setting rate is only 50%, it will not achieve high yield. Second, the biological period of indica rice and japonica rice is too long after crossing, and it cannot safely head and bear ears after growing. Third, the plant height of indica rice will be higher after crossing with japonica rice.

In addition to improving the yield of the variety itself, it is also very important to improve the disease resistance and insect resistance of the variety. The stripe disease resistant rice we have cultivated uses stripe resistance genes to cultivate disease and insect resistant varieties, which increases rice yield while reducing the use of pesticides.

With the improvement of people's living standards, people's demand for rice is also rising. Consumers know that Japanese rice is delicious and Thai fragrant rice is delicious. We need to cultivate rice varieties like Japanese japonica rice and Thai fragrant rice. In recent years, with the support of the Seed Industry Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, we have organized joint research on high-quality rice varieties nationwide and cultivated a large number of high-quality rice. Some varieties of japonica rice in northern China can basically be compared with high-quality rice in Japan; The indica rice in southern China can basically be compared with the fragrant rice in Thailand.

Recently, at the 3rd National Quality Rice Evaluation Conference, I cultivated a japonica rice variety called "Ningxiangjing 9", which won the first place in the quality rice category. We should cultivate high-quality varieties with high yield and good quality to solve the problem of food security.

4. In terms of variety cultivation, how to meet the needs of different consumers?

Wan Jianmin: The special population of patients with diabetes and kidney disease have special needs for some food. For example, in case of kidney disease, its kidney function fails, and it cannot eat rice with fruit protein content more than 4%.

Rice generally contains about 8% fruit protein. Although the protein content is low, it is very easy to be absorbed by the human body. Of course, this is one of the reasons why eating rice is easy to gain weight. For kidney patients, the first restriction given by the doctor is that they are not allowed to eat rice, and they should use low protein foods.

For a healthy population, the higher the content of fruit protein in our rice varieties, the higher the nutritional value, and the better the flavor. However, due to the failure of kidney function, kidney patients cannot digest and absorb too much fruit protein, so we need to cultivate rice with low fruit protein so that kidney patients can eat rice.

The starch in rice is usually converted into sugar, thus boosting the blood sugar of the consumers. This is also the reason why diabetics should strictly control their rice consumption. However, the high antigen starch rice we currently cultivate cannot be digested and absorbed after eating, so the starch cannot be converted into sugar, and human blood sugar will not rise.

5. What are the goals to achieve in order to turn the seed industry around?

Wan Jianmin: We hope that the national rice yield will exceed 500 kg within five years, which is completely achievable. In order to achieve this goal of per unit area yield, we should not rely solely on varieties. Cultivation techniques, means of production and farmers' enthusiasm for grain production should be further strengthened. If farmers' enthusiasm for grain production is mobilized, they will create many new technologies to improve the per unit area yield, and some existing new technologies will also be fully applied.

In addition to the innovation source technology, the practical application technology in production is also very important, and we need to further strengthen the research on this technology. From the technical comparison of the contribution of grain yield per unit area, 50% - 60% of developed countries rely on improved varieties, and about 45% of China relies on improved varieties, and only rice and wheat can reach more than 50%. We still have much room for improvement.

In addition to quantity, quality is also very important for food security. Therefore, we should improve the quality of rice, wheat, corn and soybean on the premise of ensuring their yield. For example, rice needs to improve its yield quality and appearance processing quality, so that people can see that the rice is glossy in appearance, and the rice made is transparent, so as to achieve good color, smell and taste.

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