Sanya leads in tropical high-efficiency agricultural innovation

Sanya is making significant strides in optimizing and upgrading its tropical high-efficiency agricultural sector. Based on the Nanfan Breeding Sci-Tech Town, a national scientific research and breeding base for tropical agriculture, it is working to drive agricultural modernization.

Since establishing its base in Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City (YZBSTC), a key industrial park of Hainan Free Trade Port, Longping Biotechnology (Hainan) has made breakthroughs in research and commercialization of insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant maize after over five years of development.

Recently, the company's molecular technology platform achieved breakthroughs in multi-gene editing and co-expression technologies, with over 80 percent of commercial self-crossing maize lines being directly transformed. Significant advancements have also been made in the transformation efficiency of soybeans and rice.

Longping Biotechnology is not alone. Many other enterprises are developing breeding accelerators to strengthen the foundation of tropical high-efficiency agriculture.

Sanya's unique climate conditions allow crops to undergo three generations in a year, significantly shortening the breeding cycle. "The sound breeding conditions in Sanya enable us to advance the breeding process more quickly, solving many technical challenges," said Chen Xin, a researcher at the National Key Laboratory of Tropical Crop Breeding at the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences.

Currently, Sanya is promoting the upgrade of the national seed breeding base from a focus on research services to building an entire industry chain that integrates research, production, promotion, and services.

A demonstration area of the Nanfan Breeding Sci-Tech Town, a national scientific research and breeding base for tropical agriculture in YZBSTC. [Photo/Sanya Daily]