HAIKOU/TASS: The authorities of South China’s Hainan Province plan to complete the formation of the seed breeding “Silicon Valley” in the city of Sanya by 2030, where a major seed breeding cluster is being created, the Sanya Daily newspaper reported.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Village of the PRC held a press conference in Sanya to provide the public with detailed information on the development prospects of the innovation site, which is located on the south coast of the island. At the conference, several of China’s central departments presented a plan outlining guidelines for Silicon Valley’s R&D, manufacturing and related public-humanitarian projects.
Its establishment, the newspaper notes, will be carried out in two stages. The first stage (until 2025) will involve completing the construction of basic infrastructure and a resource and technology base, attracting professional specialists necessary for the long-term development of the cluster, and ensuring its sufficient capitalization. The government will pay special attention to the commercialization of research projects and the establishment of a mechanism that, by maintaining an optimal business environment, will make it possible to promptly put promising inventions and developments into practice.
The next stage, which is to be completed in 2030, will involve the final functional integration of the seed breeding “Silicon Valley” into the comprehensive development system of the Hainan Free Trade Port. This implies that more intensive strategic measures will be introduced in this stage, which will ensure the dynamic development of the province and become one of the growth drivers of national significance. The quality of the R&D and trade and economic processes is also expected to significantly improve.
The key role in this program will be played by Yazhou District with administrative-territorial units adjacent to Sanya – the Lingshui Li and Ledong Li Autonomous Counties. The tasks set for the innovation platform include ensuring the establishment of a developed breeding base, which is in demand both in the field of seed breeding and tropical agriculture, as well as in the breeding of pedigree livestock and poultry, and the breeding of healthy and nutritious seafood. Organizations and companies located in Silicon Valley intend to engage in extensive international cooperation, and exchange seeds with other states, primarily with countries participating in the One Belt, One Road initiative. By improving the legal framework, it will be possible to base such cooperation on a system of effective inspection control to neutralize biosafety risks, the newspaper noted.
Sanya’s selective breeding
Sanya plays a key role in selective breeding, seed breeding and the adoption of the best international agricultural methods in the PRC. Local projects attract the attention of several hundred research organizations, leading universities and enterprises each year. They involve thousands of specialists from different regions of China as well as from other countries. The development in Sanya is closely related to the fate of the leading Chinese breeder, the “father of hybrid rice” Yuan Longping (1930-2021), who regularly visited the place in winter for more than 50 years.
