Quotable

"I have a simple dream. I dream about enjoying the shade under a giant piece of rice. You see, in my dream, rice is as tall as sorghum and a single grain is as big as a peanut."

Yuan Longping, an agricultural scientist and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, talking about his dream of boosting China's food security in an interview with Xinhuanet.com on Sunday. He said he is confident that China could reach its target unit yield of 1,000 kg per mu (0.0667 hectares) of paddy rice in 2015, five years ahead of schedule. Yuan developed the first hybrid rice varieties in the 1970s. The 83-year-old said China previously planned to reach the objective of "super-hybrid" rice yields by 2020.