Chinese scientist Yuan Longping, whose lifelong research helped feed the world's most populous country, died on May 22 aged 91. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

"Yuan Longping has always been my idol and although he has passed away, our agricultural and forestry researchers will fulfill his wishes," said Zhu Jialiu, a technician from Zhoushan academy of agriculture and forestry sciences.

Yuan's latest research project was cultivating alkali-resisting sea rice. Sea rice is not grown in the sea, but in saline-alkali soil.

He once said in an interview, "Sea rice is of great importance for China to implement the strategy of growing grain with fertile soil and advanced technology."

In 2020, Yuan's sea-rice cultivation team piloted the improvement of saline-alkaline soil and the planting of sea rice in 10 cities in the country, including Qingdao in Shandong province. This project increased the yield of rice to more than 500 kilograms per mu.

As a garden city surrounded by the sea, Zhoushan must improve its saline-alkaline soil, noted Zhu.

According to incomplete statistics, the city has 37,500 mu (2,500 hectares) of tideland in Daishan, Zhujiajian and Liuheng that can be used for pilot planting.

"We came to Qingdao for the sea-rice planting technique in 2017 and met with Yuan when his colleagues celebrated his 88th birthday," said Zhu.

That same year, the Zhoushan academy of agriculture and forestry sciences launched the project involving saline-alkaline soil improvement and sea-rice planting.

Over the past three years, the Zhoushan academy has cultivated alkali-resisting sea-rice strain suitable for Zhoushan and mastered the technique to improve saline-alkaline soil.

Chinese scientist Yuan Longping, whose lifelong research helped feed the world's most populous country, died of illness on May 22 aged 91. He is renowned for developing the first hybrid-rice strain that substantially raised yields.