Harvesters work at a late rice field in Jianxia village, Xiangtang town, Nanchang county, east China's Jiangxi Province, Oct. 29, 2025. (Photo/Zhu Haipeng)

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), China has vigorously advanced its seed industry revitalization initiative. The effort has focused on developing urgently needed crop varieties such as high-quality, high-yield rice, water-saving and disease-resistant wheat, mechanically harvestable corn, and high-oil, high-yield soybeans. Domestically bred crop varieties now account for over 95 percent of the nation's planted area.

Throughout this period, regions across the country have developed a range of groundbreaking rice varieties. For instance, the rice cultivation team at Anhui Agricultural University in east China's Anhui Province introduced its self-developed rice varieties to local farmers, achieving yields of 800 kilograms per mu (1 mu equals about 0.067 hectares).

The National Salt-Alkali Tolerant Rice Technology Innovation Center bred a new rice variety that achieved an average per-mu yield exceeding 400 kilograms at demonstration sites under salt stress of 3–5 per mille (parts per thousand) throughout the entire growth period. This filled a gap in strong salt-tolerant, high-quality hybrid rice varieties for coastal saline-alkali areas in south China.

Supported by improved seed varieties, China's rice yield per mu rose steadily during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. In 2025, early rice yields surpassed 400 kilograms per mu for the first time, reaching a historic high.

During the same period, thanks to major projects in agricultural biological breeding, researchers successfully developed a new wheat variety resistant to Fusarium head blight, marking significant progress in China's efforts to breed disease-resistant wheat.

A Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) official noted that in recent years, China has approved various new wheat varieties characterized by high and stable yields, water conservation, and superior quality. Average yields per mu have continued to rise annually, with varieties featuring high and stable yields now accounting for over 75 percent of plantings.

China consumes around 7 billion white-feather broiler chickens each year. Previously, 100 percent of breeding stock was imported.

A turning point came in 2021 when three domestic white-feather broiler breeds, including Shengze 901, won official approval, marking China's breakthrough in white-feather broiler breeding after decades of imported dependence.

A visitor watches crop seeds at the 32nd China Yangling Agricultural Hi-tech Fair in Yangling, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

"Foreign companies long held pricing power over grandparent breeder chickens of white-feather broiler chickens," said Fu Guangming, founder of Sunner Group, which led the development of Shengze 901. The unstable supply of imported grandparent breeder chickens made it difficult for domestic enterprises to pursue long-term development plans. Against this backdrop, Sunner Group began independent breeding in 2011. After a decade of dedicated research, the company successfully bred Shengze 901, whose performance indicators now meet international standards.

While meeting domestic demand, China's homegrown white-feather broiler breeders have also begun entering global markets. In May 2024, 3,500 sets of Shengze 901 parent stock were shipped to Tanzania — the variety's first overseas delivery. Earlier this year, 51,000 Shengze 901 hatching eggs were exported from Guangze county in Nanping, southeast China's Fujian Province, to Tanzania, marking the first export of domestic white-feather broiler breeding eggs to Africa.

The performance of domestic white-feather broiler breeds continues to improve, gaining recognition from an increasing number of domestic enterprises. With a market share exceeding 25 percent, these breeds have strengthened the nation's breeding stock security.

In addition, Huaxi cattle, China's homegrown beef cattle breed, has broken the country's dependence on imported core breeding stock and now holds over 20 percent market share.

The whiteleg shrimp commonly found on dining tables once relied entirely on imported breeding stock, costing tens of millions of dollars annually. Today, 12 domestically bred whiteleg shrimp varieties account for over 30 percent of the market.

"These are varieties we once lacked or mainly relied on imports for. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we independently developed them, and their market share continues to grow," said Zhang Xingwang, vice minister of MARA.

Breeding superior varieties requires advanced technologies, but it also depends on access to high-quality germplasm resources. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China completed its third national survey of agricultural germplasm resources, launched in March 2021.

This three-year survey represented the largest in scale, with the widest coverage and the most participants since the founding of the People's Republic of China. For the first time, aquaculture germplasm resources were included in the study.

The survey identified 139,000 new crop germplasm resources. In the livestock and poultry sector, 10 species previously declared extinct were rediscovered. The aquaculture sector collected 120,000 genetic materials.

The survey has provided more options for breeding superior varieties of fruit, vegetables, tea, meat, eggs, dairy, fish and shrimp, said Liu Xu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. It has also provided critical support for enhancing independent innovation capacity in the seed industry and revitalizing the sector, Liu added.

To date, over 6,000 germplasm resources have been applied to breeding innovation and industrial development.