It's not often that one person can be said to be responsible for feeding 60 million people. But then Yuan Longping has never been an ordinary person.

Yuan, 77, a Chinese agricultural scientist, is widely acknowledged as having discovered the genetic basis of heterosis in rice - a breakthrough that helped lead to the development of hybrid rice.

In the three decades that followed the discovery, hybrid rice has spread so that it is now planted on about half of China' rice area, resulting in a 20 percent higher yield over previously grown varieties.

That 20 percent increase translates into enough food to feed an additional 60 million people per year in China, according to scientists with the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences where Yuan serves as a research professor and mentor to a number of other agricultural scientists.

For that and other accomplishments, including helping establish the hybrid rice seed production industry in China, Yuan was recently named recipient of the 2004 World Food Price.

The urbanite-turned-farmer graduated from Southwest Agriculture College in 1953 has his name related to the world's most advanced agricultural technology. Four minor planets, a listed seed company 's and a science college in China were named after him, which were the first time that a Chinese scientist's name is valued for its intellectual assets.

By lending his name to the Longping High-tech, a seed company, Yuan obtained a 5 percent stake, or 2.5 million shares worth 2 million yuan, in the firm.

However, Yuan said his research requires the lifestyle of a farmer, or rather a migrating farmer, as he has conducted extensive research related to the cultivation of new strains of hybrid rice "Super Hybrid Rice" in some 10 provinces.

With China's population now in the range of 1.3 billion, increasing food production will continue to be a priority.

Some people estimate Yuan's actual fortune might amount to more than 100 million yuan (US$12 million), making him one of the richest people in China. But he doesn't know for sure himself, for he seems not to care about his own assets than the rice harvest.

Some people asked him to move the focus of his research from improving amounts of hybrid rice to the quality and taste, which would be easier to do. But, the stubborn academician insisted that the amount of hybrid rice's per unit yield still outweighs the quality, for his foremost task is to improve the grain reserve in developing countries.

Editor: Wing