Scientist: Food security remains key issue

Zhou Kailin, a farmer in Yongfu, a village in Guanyang, said many residents tend to earn a living in big cities instead of farming, because of the limited income it offers.

But he said that a good way for the farmers to grow their incomes is by expanding their planting area, which the local government encourages with subsidies.

He said he purchased a rice harvester at a price of 110,000 yuan, and the government offered a subsidy of 30,000 yuan for the purchase.

In addition, the expanded farming would create more jobs, since during the harvest season, Zhou hires 30 people who are each paid 70 yuan per day.

"Grain production also plays an important role in rural revitalization," said Chen, head of the county's Agricultural Technology Extension Station. "Therefore, the county promotes intensive farming and setting up farming cooperatives and family farms in its 68 poverty-stricken villages."

Since the first hybrid varieties were developed in the 1970s, Yuan's rice has been grown in dozens of countries in Africa, the Americas and Asia－providing a robust food source in areas with a high risk of hunger.

For example, according to Yuan, super hybrid rice increased the average yield from 2.5 tons per hectare to 7 tons in Madagascar, where there is now a great interest in promoting hybrid rice.