Farmers find super hybrid rice lacking in yield, disease resistance

Poor harvest results of a hybrid rice variety, promoted for its supposed super-yield properties, have prompted farmers to think twice about future seed purchases.

Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture, China's leading hybrid rice seed maker, based in Hunan province, was blamed for last year's drastic decrease in the rice harvest in Anhui province.

The company claimed the rice, Liangyou 0293, could yield more than 13,500 kilograms per hectare, but farmers said they found that level virtually impossible to reach in practice, and product labeling from the company about the variety's resistance to disease was contradictory.