May 25, 2021
Huizhong Wu
AP â Yuan Longping, a Chinese scientist who developed higher-yield rice varieties that helped feed people around the world, died on Saturday at a hospital in the southern city of Changsha, the
Xinhua news
agency reported. He was 90.
Yuan spent his life researching rice and was a household name in China, known by the nickname âFather of Hybrid Riceâ.
Worldwide, a fifth of all rice now comes from species created by hybrid rice following Yuan’s breakthrough discoveries, according to the website of the World Food Prize, which he won in 2004.
On Saturday afternoon, large crowds honoured the scientist by marching past the hospital in Hunan province where he died, local media reported, calling out phrases such as: “Grandpa Yuan, have a good journey!”