The planting base for seawater rice in Bencha Town of Rudong County made a remarkable progress on October 14 when the rice yield reached 802.9 kilograms per mu during a test.

Fangling Reclamation is developed by a research team led by Yuan Longping, China's "father of hybrid rice," and the Jiangsu Agricultural Technology Promotion Center.  The research aim is to cultivate excellent rice varieties that can thrive in the saline lands and improve the sustainable farming.

The base has four varieties of seawater rice. An expert team tested the yield from one of three plots that grew a strain called Chaoyue Qianhao and announced the new record at the end.

Yuan’s team has been committed to the research and development of strains of high-yield, saltwater-tolerant rice to help ensure China's food security. The team runs five planting bases to make rice able to cope with the cold, salt and alkali conditions. The base in Rugong with saline-alkali lands is the only one in Jiangsu to be selected in the initiative.

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