Israel, China to jointly develop hybrid crops (Xinhua) Updated: 2004-05-11 13:50
China's national rice research center and a famous Israeli bio-technology
company signed a cooperation agreement in Jerusalem Monday to jointly test
bio-technology components in selected crops and develop super hybrid rice.
Professor Yuan Longping, director of the China National Hybrid Rice Research
and Development Center (CNHRRDC), said at the signing ceremony that the
cooperation is a pilot effort in this field and it will take at least 5 years to
bring the technology developed in the experiment into market.
Dr. Vered Yesodi, chief executive officer of the Israeli private
agro-biotechnology company FertiSeeds, expressed his confidence that the new
technology will develop new high-yield rice hybrids and related technologies for
China. She said the cooperation is the first of its kind between the two
countries.
The CNHRRDC and FertiSeeds hope that the hybrid seeds based on FertiSeeds
technology will promote the economical production of seeds that will
significantly improve yield and quality for such major crops as rice and cotton.
Professor Yuan, 74, who is known as the father of hybrid rice in China,
shared 2004 Israeli Wolf Prize in Agriculture with Professor Steven Tanksley of
US Cornell University. The prize was awarded by Israeli President Moshe Katsav
in Jerusalem on Sunday night.
Since 1978, five or six such prizes have been annually granted to outstanding
scientists and artists worldwide for their great achievements. Yuan is the first
Chinese scientist to win the prize with an award of
US$100,000.
