Mobilizing Nobel for father of hybrid rice

Over the past week, more than 20,000 netizens in China (China) have voted in favor of the nomination of Mr. Vien Long Binh, a 76-year-old Chinese agricultural researcher, to compete for Nobel Peace Prize next year.

Mr. Vien was dubbed the " father of hybrid rice " because he was the first in the world to find out that hybrid rice gives higher yield, better disease resistance and faster growth than regular rice.

He and his colleagues created many hybrid rice varieties in 1974, which helped solve food shortages for tens of millions of Chinese people.

To date, his rice is grown on more than half of China's rice fields and is introduced to more than 20 countries around the world. Netizens argue that poverty reduction is a way to bring peace, so Mr. Vien deserves to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr. Vien Long Binh (right) and his colleagues examined hybrid rice seeds in the laboratory (Photo: Chinataiwan.org)

L.AN