Hybrid rice promises stable food supply for Philippines

Success, according to Chinese wisdom, depends on good timing, a favorable location and human harmony. These elements have gradually come into play during two decades of agricultural cooperation between China and the Philippines and help safeguard the latter's food security.

Hybrid rice, the crossbred strain that brings stronger resistance to disease and insects and delivers higher yields, was created by China's leading agriculture scientist Yuan Longping in 1974, and approved for mass planting in China in 1996. As of 2015, more than half the country's rice farms had been sown with hybrid strains.

The technology has helped boost domestic rice production capacity and drawn inquisitive eyes from neighboring countries that also consume rice as staple food, according to Huang Dahui, deputy director of the Longping High-Tech Training Institute.