Food security: Lessons from China, Yuan Longping By Wed May 26 2021 Since Saturday, May 22, 2021, China, the world’s most populous country, has been celebrating the life and times of one of its greatest achievers. Prof Yuan Longping, an agronomist, who died at the age of 90; but it is not just his longevity that his countrymen and women are dancing for. China is paying tribute to the man who broke its hunger streak and helped the nation achieve near food security at a time when hunger was tormenting a significant fraction of the human race. Today, China is the world’s largest producer of rice, and, surprisingly, it uses only nine per cent of its arable land to produce this.