Dr Wang Shimei, of the Rice Research Institute of the Anhui Agricultural Academy, said the plantation area of the Lyuhan No 1 (Green Drought) rice breed had reached 2.3 million hectares in China.

Wang said the breed was first exported in 2009 to Angola. Plantation has reached 10,000 hectares in the country since then. The rice has also been planted in countries such as the Philippines, Cambodia, Pakistan and Cameroon.

In Cameroon, the rice yield reached just over 29 kg per hectare this year, as compared with about an average 4.5 kg per hectare of other rice breeds in the country.

Wang said agricultural experts from 10 countries, including Egypt and Uganda, came to China in June to study the rice growing technique, hoping it could help improve the yield in their countries, which face severe drought.