China opens national rice sci-tech platform to boost rice industry

A national rice science and technology innovation platform was inaugurated on Wednesday in China, engaging in the core technological development of the country's rice industry. Located in Baoqing County, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the platform operates under the China National Rice Research Institute.

The institute has cooperated with local research institutes and colleges in northeast China to promote new rice varieties and technologies, said Wu Kongming, president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Since its operation, the platform has carried out major sci-tech research in terms of rice breeding, returning straw to fields and black soil protection, as well as cultivating 120 strains with high yield and resistance to early maturing and 12 new varieties, according to Hu Peisong, head of the institute.