brief introduction to hunan academy of agricultural sciences
originated as the hunan provincial agricultural experimental field founded in 1901, hunan academy of agricultural sciences was officially named in 1964. it is under the direct administration of the people’s government of hunan province and indirect administration of the department of agriculture and rural affairs of hunan province. the academy oversees 21 research institutions and 2 research support institutions. it has been awarded the national advanced primary party organization, national advanced collective of professional and technical talents, demonstration base for innovative talent training, and national advanced collective of grain production. president xi jinping puts forward the requirement that party members, managers, and researchers should learn from comrade yuan longping and encourages the hybrid rice research team.
1. organization. before the reform, hunan academy of agricultural sciences oversees 15 research institutions (hunan hybrid rice research center, hunan rice research institute, hunan soil and fertilizer institute , hunan institute of agricultural environment and ecology, hunan vegetable research institute, hunan agricultural products processing institute ,hunan institute of agricultural information and engineering, hunan horticultural research institute, crop research institute of hunan province, hunan tea research institute, hunan institute of agricultural economy and agricultural regionalization, hunan institute of plant protection, hunan institute of nuclear agronomy and space breeding, hunan agricultural equipment research institute, and hunan agricultural biotechnology research institute ) and 2 research support institutions [logistics service center (office of production management) and base management center]. on september 18th, 2024, the general office of the hunan provincial party committee and the people’s government of hunan province issued the overall plan for the reform of the management system of hunan academy of agricultural sciences. six research institutions, including hunan institute of microbiology, hunan cotton research institute , the sericultural research institute of hunan province, hunan institute of animal and veterinary science, hunan aquatic products research institute, and hunan aquatic products seed stock station, were reorganized into hunan academy of agricultural sciences, with the total approved staff size of 1722. the academy, together with hunan university, jointly established the longping branch, graduate school of hunan university. hunan province’s association of agricultural science societies, hunan society of aquatic products, hunan society of horticultural science, hunan society of plant protection, hunan society of food science and technology, and hunan pepper branch of chinese society of horticultural science were affiliated to the academy.
2. management system. the academy and its affiliated research institutions are classified as first-class public welfare institutions and implement the whole-budget management. the research support institutions are classified as second-class public welfare institutions, implementing the differential?budget management, independent accounting, and the centralized payment system of the national treasury.
3. talents. the academy has independently fostered four academicians of the chinese academy of engineering [yuan longping (1930.9.7—2021.5.22, winner of the medal of the republic, pioneer of reform, and father of hybrid rice), zou xuexiao (currently president of hunan agricultural university), bai lianyang (currently secretary of the party committee of hunan academy of agricultural sciences), shan yang (currently director of the academic committee of hunan academy of agricultural sciences)], four experts with outstanding contributions to china, nine members of the new century hundred, thousand, ten thousand talent project, five leading talents of scientific and technological innovation of the national ten thousand talents program, three innovation teams in key areas of the national innovation talent promotion program, seven members of one hundred outstanding agricultural research talents and innovation teams of the ministry of agriculture and rural affairs, one member of the ninth science and technology committee of the ministry of agriculture and rural affairs, one chairman of the national rice cultivar certification professional committee, 69 winners of guanghua engineering science and technology prize, guangzhao prize, hunan provincial outstanding contribution award, hunan provincial science and technology leading talents, hunan provincial excellent experts, and hunan provincial 121 talent project, and 71 experts receiving special allowances from the state council.
4. research platform. in 2022, the state key laboratory of hybrid rice was established and became one of the first 20 state key laboratories and 4 state key laboratories in agriculture. so far, the academy has established 91 national-, provincial-, and ministerial-level innovation platforms [including national center of technology innovation for saline-alkali tolerant rice, state key laboratory of hybrid rice, china national hybrid rice r&d center, national engineering research center of rice (changsha), national and local joint engineering laboratory for the comprehensive utilization of citrus resources], one academician workstation, one postdoctoral research workstation, 10 innovative research bases of academician team , 49 field experiment stations and demonstration bases, and more than 200 professional demonstration sites.
5. leadership care. on april 12th, 2018, president xi jinping inspected the sanya hybrid rice breeding base of hunan academy of agricultural sciences and had a cordial conversation with academician yuan longping in the experimental field of hybrid rice. wang zhen (1961), zhu de (1964), song ping (1990), jiang zemin (1991), li peng (1994), jiang chunyun (1995), zou jiahua (1995), qiao shi (1995), hu jintao (2003), hui liangyu (2003, 2011), wen jiabao (2005), jia qinglin (2005), han qide (2007), wang gang (2008), liu yandong (2009), chen changzhi (2009), li keqiang (2011), wang yang (2014), hu chunhua (2018), wan gang (2021), wu weihua (2021, 2023), chen quanguo (2022), he wei (2023), xuekelaiti zake’er (2023), he baoxiang (2024), and liu guozhong (2024) have successively visited the academy or bases. previous leaders of hunan provincial party committee and the people’s government of hunan province have visited the academy multiple times for inspection and guidance.
6. landmark achievements. since the reform and opening up, the academy has achieved 2928 research achievements, bred 798 high-quality cultivars, and won 616 national, provincial, and ministerial-level awards. since the implementation of the new science and technology awarding system in 2000, the academy has won 21 national-level science and technology awards. the research on hybrid rice, led by academician yuan longping, has won the only special prize of national science and technology invention award to date, the national highest science and technology award (first session), and the special prize of 2013 national science and technology progress award. in the past 10 years, the academy has bred 91 high-quality rice cultivars, 97 vegetable cultivars, 40 upland grain and oilseed cultivars, and 20 horticultural plant cultivars and has been authorized 418 invention patents. the annual yield of third-generation hybrid rice reached 1603.9 kg/667 m2, which was elected as one of the top ten engineering achievements worldwide in 2021. the main landmark achievements are as follows:
(1) hybrid rice has won one special prize of national science and technology invention award (the only one announced by the state so far), one prize of the national highest science and technology award (first session), one special prize, three first prizes, and eight second prizes of national science and technology progress award, and more than 60 prizes of science and technology awards at or above the provincial and ministerial levels.
(2) pepper breeding and germplasm resource creation have won 4 second prizes of national science and technology progress award and 4 first prizes and 3 second prizes of hunan provincial science and technology progress award.
(3) green prevention and control of harmful organisms in rice has won 3 second prizes of national science and technology progress award and 5 first prizes of hunan provincial science and technology progress award.
(4) deep processing of citrus resources has won 2 second prizes of national science and technology progress award and 4 first prizes of hunan provincial science and technology progress award.
(5) high-quality rice has won 4 second prizes of hunan provincial science and technology progress award and 5 first prizes of hunan provincial science and technology progress.
(6) eleven rice cultivars with stable low cadmium accumulation, involving three internationally cutting-edge technologies, have been bred and applied in production trials in 2022.
(7) the academy has established a core technology system with independent intellectual property rights in the research on saline-alkali tolerant rice in china, which can utilize over 100 million mu of saline-alkali land with rice planting potential nationwide and increase the grain yield by 30 billion kg.
(8) twenty-six hybrids of oilseed rape have been bred, winning one first prize and 11 second prizes of hunan provincial science and technology progress award. the planting area of ‘fengyou 737’ has ranked first in china for seven consecutive years.
(9) huangjin tea, with high content of amino acids, polyphenols, water extract, and chlorophyll, rich aroma, green infusion color, fresh taste, and sweet and mellow aftertaste, has won one first prize of hunan provincial science and technology progress award. it is planted for over 0.8 million mu in xiangxi, driving the tea industry to generate benefits of over 6 billion yuan.
(10) the application of clean vegetable production technology has reduced the use of farm chemicals and fertilizer by 30% and reduced vegetable field pollutants by 70%. it has won one second prize of national science and technology progress award and three first prizes of hunan provincial science and technology progress award.
(11) the academy has established a comprehensive control technology system for agricultural non-point source pollution considering different regional characteristics and developed products for the remediation of non-point source pollution in farmland.
(12) the academy has bred four astragalus sinicus cultivars and constructed a simplified production and utilization system for green manure in paddy fields, winning one second prize of hunan provincial science and technology progress award.
(13) with the research achievements in hybrid rice and hybrid pepper, yuan longping high-tech agriculture co., ltd. (longping high-tech, founded in 1999 and listed in 2000, with the academy owning 40% shares at the time of founding and 5.08% shares at present) emerges as the first listed company in the field of agriculture. it has now grown into a leading high-tech company in the seed industry, demonstrating a global influence.
starting a new journey in the new era, the academy will fulfill the requirement of the 20th national congress of the communist party of china and keep facing the world’s scientific and technological frontiers, the main economic battlefield, the major needs of the country, and the people’s life and health. the academy will carry forward yuan longping’s spirit of scientific and technological innovation, engage in research in experimental fields, and devote to scientific and technological innovation, thus making contributions to national food security, high-quality agricultural development, and china’s strength in agriculture. (data of newly reorganized research institutions were not available before october 2024)
address: no. 892, yuanda no. 2 road, mapoling, furong district, changsha city, hunan province. tel: 0731-84691212 postcode: 410125