World seed giants landing Hainan

It is reported by local press that 8 global seed industry leaders including the US Pioneer and the Mexican Seminis have landed in Hainan’s Nanfan Breeding Base, having initiated their crop breeding activities covering corn, vegetable and rice, etc.

Gansu Dunhuang Pioneer Seed Ltd, a subsidiary of US Pioneer of DuPont, has rented 80Mu land for plantation of 200kg corn seed; Beijing New Millennium Fengrui Crop, the partner of Monsanto, has rented some 100Mu land for corn breeding.

It is said that the landing of these world industry players is achieved via cooperation with Chinese seed enterprises other than a direct presence, like Syngenta China Investment Ltd, Limagrain Shanxi Special Grain Ltd and Seminis Beijing Ltd ,etc.

Nanfan is a terminology of Chinese crop breeding industry, which refers to the utilization of unique climate of Hainan to propagate breeding materials. Nanfan will not only speed up the breeding progress but also uses different ecological environment to select filial generation to seek widely applicable materials for improvement of the breeding effect.

Statistics shows that 80% of the 5,000 odd novel crop varieties which are promoted in China are done by seed selection or propagation in Nanfan Breeding Base.

“The sunlight and temperature of Sanya, Ledong and Lingshui of Hainan Province can shorten the new crop variety breeding cycle by 50%. Under the present circumstance of fast upgrade of crop variety, Nanfan plays an irreplaceable role and no wonder worldwide seed giants are landing Nanfan Breeding Base”, said Li Jinsong, the Director of Sanya Nanfan Research Institute.