The Director of State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology Prof. Lam Hon-Ming’s LH4 (隴黃四號), a new stress tolerant strain of soybean, co-developed with Prof. Zhang Guohong of Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has been approved for use in Gansu Province.

Upholding the belief that “Scientific Innovations should be ‘published’ in the field, not just in academic journals”, Prof. Lam brings his cutting-edge genomic study of soybean into developing new cultivars that are drought- and salt-tolerant. From 2016 onwards, LH1, 2 and 3 were successively approved for use in Gansu Province. Between 2016 and 2023, they have been grown primarily on marginal lands across 2000km on the Loess Plateau 黃土高原, with cumulative acreage of about 1.18million mu (or 78667 hectares).

The estimated impacts:
a) Increasing income of relative impoverished farmers by RMB97million;
b) Capitalizing on Soybean’s nitrogen fixation ability, 78667Kg of Carbon dioxide emission has been reduced; and
c) Restoring marginal lands that are plagued by drought and salinity.

With the newly approved LH4, Prof. Lam expects to further expand the growing areas of his stress-resistant soybean strains, and hopefully restore more marginal lands to active agricultural usage while improving the farmers’ livelihood and helping the environment.