China's utopian quest for the rice crop suffered a couple of blows recently. A new rice virus disease – called Southern Rice Black Streak Dwarf Virus (SRBSDV) transmitted by the white back planthopper (WBPH) – was reportedly spreading across China, covering 300,000 ha of rice land in nine provinces. Recent data from a survey conducted by Professor Guo-Hui Zhou of the South China Agricultural University point to increased infection rates in the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, with hybrid rice varieties being more seriously affected. The disease has been prevalent that it reached neighbouring Vietnam as well, infecting about 15,000 ha of ricelands and covering 19 provinces. Interestingly, this new disease has been found to also infect maize and sorghum, also major crops in China.
Just as this was unfolding, new incidences of GM rice contamination were brought into the open. The Economic Observer reported new cases of illegal sales of GM rice seeds in several parts of China. In Hunan, about 1,500 kilograms of suspected GM seeds were discovered in three villages close to the city of Yueyang, 150km north of provincial capital, Changsha. At least five kinds of suspected GM rice seeds were also found in Changde city, supposedly from neighboring Hubei.
Greenpeace has discovered at least four brands of rice and three brands of rice flour from Hubei, Hunan and Fujian found to contain GM ingredients, from July 2009 to February 2010.
Typically, after receiving a safety certificate, one still needs a seed production license and a seed sales license from the government. In other words, having a safety certificate does not automatically grant one the right to commercialise it. But since receiving its safety certificate, with validity until 2014, the Huazhong Agricultural University has been reportedly urging the central government to commercialize GM rice.
The three manufacturers of GM rice seeds are Wuhan Huihua Sannong Seed Company, Wuhan Dunhuang Seed Company and Wuhan Jiuhuan Seed Company. Wuhan Dunhuang is a subsidiary of Dunhuang Seed Co Ltd, with a registered capital of 30 million yuan (US$ 4.4 million). On the other hand, Wuhan Huihua Sannong was co-founded by the Hong Kong-based Waikee Group and Huazhong Agricultural University (the only one that holds the safety certificate of GM rice seeds issued by China's Ministry of Agriculture). The university holds 30 percent of the shares of Wuhan Huihua Sannong.