Beijing, China
December 3, 2007
Chinese scientists responsible
for developing innovative wheat varieties recognized with
international award for "Outstanding Agricultural Technology"
An intensive domestic research
effort to bolster China’s wheat production has over the last
four years produced new high-quality, high-yielding varieties
that already have added 2.4 million tons to Chinese harvests and
generated an extra US$411 million in farm income. The new
varieties also offer natural resistance to a new strain of wheat
stem rust now emerging as a threat to global food security,
according to a new assessment from the
Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).
In recognition of their contribution to Chinese grain production
and international crop science, the
Consultative Group for
International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) announced today
that its 2007 Regional Award for Outstanding Agricultural
Technology in the Asia-Pacific Region will go to a Chinese wheat
improvement team. The team comprises scientists from CAAS and
the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Science (SAAS). The award
was presented here at the CGIAR Annual General Meeting.
The success of Chinese plant breeders in boosting the size and
sustainability of domestic wheat production is well timed, as
soaring wheat prices in global markets are making grain imports
particularly costly. In addition, the recent discovery that one
of the new varieties has natural resistance to a rapidly
spreading and potentially devastating form of wheat stem rust
could be critical to sustaining wheat production worldwide.
“Now that these new wheat varieties have been sown on more than
8 million hectares, we can see how important they are likely to
become to China’s wheat production capacity,” said He Zhonghu of
CAAS. “They are particularly important in the area of disease
resistance. It is not just the farmers who are benefiting. These
new varieties are yielding a high-quality grain that food
manufacturers say is producing superior wheat noodles and pan
bread for Chinese consumers.”
“These new wheat varieties developed by China’s wheat
improvement team possess what every crop scientist seeks but
only rarely achieves,” said Ren Wang, director of the CGIAR. “In
addition to offering bigger harvests and higher quality wheat,
the recent finding that they are endowed with natural resistance
to the strain of stem rust we’re seeing spread throughout East
Africa is just more evidence of their outstanding quality.”
From 2002 to 2006, a team of scientists from CAAS and SAAS
developed three improved wheat varieties for Chinese farmers
that are five to seven percent more productive than previous
varieties. In addition, their superior quality for bread and
noodle production has made them particularly popular among
Chinese milling and food manufacturers and allowed Chinese
farmers to earn an additional US $101 million in “quality”
premiums.
Scientists also recently discovered that one of the varieties,
known as Jimai 20, is the only Chinese wheat cultivar—and one of
the few in the world—to show high resistance to a new and
virulent strain of destructive wheat stem rust that originated
in East Africa and has now spread to the Arabian peninsula.
International wheat experts have been alarmed that most of the
world’s wheat varieties appear susceptible to the disease, which
can reduce harvests by as much 70 percent.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), the disease could end up posing a threat to
global food security. Wind models show it has the potential to
spread to farms throughout the Middle East and South Asia, which
collectively account for 25 percent of the global wheat harvest.
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR), established in 1971, is a strategic partnership of
countries, international and regional organizations and private
foundations supporting the work of 15 international agricultural
research Centers. In collaboration with national agricultural
research systems, civil society and the private sector, the
CGIAR fosters sustainable agricultural growth through
high-quality science aimed at benefiting the poor through
stronger food security, better human nutrition and health,
higher incomes and improved management of natural resources.
Other news
from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences |
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