This new rapeseed variety has been developed to reduce the main constraints of winter sowing, including a shorter growth cycle, increased cold tolerance, and earlier fertility, according to the CAAS website.
China’s rapeseed breakthrough could yield abundant winter crops, boost seed self-reliance
Chinese scientists have made a breakthrough in improving the yield of rapeseed plants, potentially leading to increased domestic production and less reliance on imported vegetable oil.
The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) is testing its new rapeseed variety in eastern China’s Jiangxi province, with an aim to take advantage of idle fields during the winter months.
“As China’s major oilseed crop, rapeseed accounts for half of the domestically produced oil, and there are more than 64 million mu [about 4.27 million hectares, or 10.6 million acres] of unused fields in the winter after the rice-planting season. This creates huge potential for rapeseed expansion and production,” Wang Xinfa, a CASS researcher, was quoted as saying in an interview with the official Science and Technology Daily.
The new rapeseed breed could utilise vacant winter farmland to increase vegetable oil production and further ease China’s dependence on overseas vegetable oils.
Beijing has been sounding the alarm on the need to curb China’s reliance on seed imports. The nation’s top agricultural journal said in an article last month that the domestic seed industry was suffering from a lack of innovation and was losing its edge in the global market, while calling seeds the “chips of agriculture”.
The application of this rapeseed variety could result in an increase of China’s self-sufficiency in vegetable oil by about 12 percentage points, through an increase of about 11.25 million tonnes of rapeseed per year, according to CAAS.
China’s self-sufficiency in edible oil is around 30 per cent, and most of it still relies on imports, according to CAAS.
“Winter [in eastern China] is actually ideal for growing rapeseed, as lower temperatures will reduce the probability of pest and disease damage, while this temperature is still suitable for rapeseed growth,” said Jia Yinsuo, an academician with the African Academy of Sciences and chairman of its China branch.
And while agricultural land is best restored to soil fertility in winter by leaving it fallow, it is still adequate for rapeseed cultivation, Jia said.
This new rapeseed variety offers an opportunity to fill the vacant winter farmland where rice, the main dietary crop of the Chinese people, is usually grown twice apart from winter, according to Wang Bing Bing, CEO of BioBin Data Science. The firm specialises in intelligent breeding data platforms and is based in Hunan province.
“Although the conditions are available for planting rapeseed … what limits the use of winter farmland is the rapeseed growth cycle, which is exactly what the new varieties are trying to solve,” Wang said.
Geopolitical conflicts and tensions with the West have further pushed China to secure its domestic oil production after relying on major economies for years, Wang said.
“Although China is not in a seed-purchasing dilemma for now, concerns have arisen in Beijing after it saw Russian seeds subjected to sanctions, which is why China has repeatedly stressed the need to increase the cultivation of oil crops this year, especially short-cycle ones,” Wang added.
Beijing has proposed implementing “a model of rotational cultivation of rice and vegetable oil, to vigorously develop and make use of vacant fields in winter to grow rapeseed”.
According to a report on China’s cooking-oil industry, released by financial services firm Northeast Securities on April 2, China’s cooking-oil ingredients are mainly derived from soybeans, which are imported primarily from Brazil, the United States, and Argentina. Those three nations account for more than 90 per cent of China’s annual soybean imports. Rapeseed oil, meanwhile, is mainly imported from Canada.
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