Mr. Vien Long Binh – the father of hybrid rice passed away

Mr. Vien Long Binh, who is known as the father of hybrid rice in China, died on the morning of May 22, at the age of 91.

Mr. Vien Long Binh – who is known as the father of hybrid rice in China. The father of hybrid rice Vien Long Binh died in Trường Sa city, capital of Hunan province, China due to old age and serious illness, Xinhua news agency reported. Mr. Vien was born in 1930. He led Chinese agricultural scientists to increase rice yield from 300 kg/acre to over 1,000 kg/acre. Each Chinese acre is equivalent to 666.6m2. This achievement of Mr. Vien and his associates is considered as the key to helping China solve the food security problem for more than a billion people in this country. Hybrid rice later appeared in dozens of countries in Africa, America and Asia, yielding higher yields than traditional rice. China has named four celestial bodies in outer space after Mr. Yuan Longping was once awarded the “Order of the Republic of the Nation”, the highest honor that China bestows on an individual. During his lifetime, Mr. Vien was famous for requiring that all doctors he trained or worked at the unit had to go to the fields. He himself, at the age of 88, still spends at least 5 hours a day in the fields. “Computers are very important, books are very important, but books can’t grow wet rice, can’t grow wheat. We now have a number of PhDs who are heavy on theory, but ignore practice, understand it. A lot of knowledge from books, but without practice, nothing can be done,” said Mr. Vien. Mr. Vien predicts that taking advantage of biotechnology to breed agricultural crops is the development orientation and inevitable trend in the future. Regarding food from genetically modified technology, Mr. Vien said it is necessary to have a cautious attitude, not to deny it completely.