China’s seed ‘Silicon Valley’ in Nanfan strives for tech innovation, but long-time basic research, investment needed for global competition
Zhang Hongpei and Zhao Juecheng in Sanya Published: May 19, 2021 06:06 PM
About 30 years ago when Li was still a little boy, he remembered a time when many agricultural researchers across the country came to his hometown in Sanya's Yazhou district, South China's Hainan Province, for plant breeding, because the tropical island province can help shorten the breeding cycle of a variety by one third or a half.
"I cannot forget that a researcher from North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region cried very sadly when the sorghum he planted was mostly eaten by sparrows, and from that moment on, I came to know that my hometown would become a key national breeding base," Li, now a taxi driver, told the Global Times during the trip from Yazhou station to the Nanfan Technology City in the district.