High- yield seeds to sprout in China
▶ Efforts aim to reshape Western- led monopoly in market: expert
China should beef up research and development ( R& D) of cutting- edge seed breeding biotechnology in the next five years, such as genome editing, breeding by design and genetically modified ( GM) variants, to protect the nation’s agricultural progress and grain security, said leading agricultural specialists on Tuesday.
Grain security was identified as one of the priorities of China’s government at a just- concluded tone- setting economic work conference.
New technologies, which could breed higher- yielding crops in a short time through safe, precise and efficient modification, are the key to breaking the Western- led monopoly and even getting a step ahead of the West in the global seed market, the specialists said, noting that China could gain an edge via early commercialization.
“China’s development of future seed biotechnology is promising. The country’s basic research in botany and agricultural crops is world- leading, exemplified by the cultivation of rice and wheat.
“We also excel in the identification of special crop genes, which lays a solid foundation for R& D,” Li Jiayang, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and geneticist, said at a GM forum in Beijing on Tuesday.
Li identified several “transformative” biotechnology opportunities, including genome editing, which allows scientists to change the DNA of some crops, breeding by design, and GM.
These technologies have yet to be allowed to explore commercialization in China, while GM variants have been approved in some Western nations. Currently, most seeds in China are produced using hybridization and cell engineering.
Seeds have been dubbed “the microchips” of the agricultural sector. China has been facing an acute issue of over- reliance on imported seeds, which feature high yields compared with “native seeds”. The imported seeds have been eroding the share of homegrown seeds.
At the recently concluded Central Economic Work Conference, Chinese top officials vowed to bolster the growth of the seed sector as one measure to improve food security.
China will aim to make better use of science and technology to achieve a turnaround in the seed industry, read a statement published after the meeting.
Zhu Jiankang, a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and director of Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday, that while the traditional method of seed breeding may take more than a decade to develop a new crop, genome editing can complete the process within a few months or even weeks.