Nikkei Asia Prizes 1999

Zhao Qiguo

Fertile mind helps boost farm productivity Zhao Qiguo's Research On Soil Has Improved China's Harvests

BY MASAMI NAKAMURA
Senior staff writer

"People usually don't pay attention to soil, but it is our greatest natural resource," said Zhao Qiguo, former director of the Nanjing-based Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences. "Everything is born from soil. Human beings can continue to survive by understanding and using soil."

Zhao, 69, is an energetic man who rises at 5:30 each morning to go jogging before arriving at the institute at 7:30. When he speaks, it is in a clear and crisp manner.

The institute, established in 1930, now has seven divisions, four experimental bases and a staff of about 370 researchers. Even after stepping down as the fourth director of the institute, Zhao has served in such key posts as head of an agricultural-research commission of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, chief of a science and technology association in his home province of Jiangsu, and a professor at Nanjing University.

Zhao has been conducting soil research for a long time. After graduating from university in 1953, he devoted himself to cultivating rubber trees for about 15 years. He studied what kinds of soil were optimal for plants in various regions and what kinds of soil reforms were needed. "My living conditions were severe at that time, but I continued researching with a sense of mission," Zhao said.

Thanks to efforts by Zhao and his fellow researchers, rubber trees began taking root in China. Before, it had been said the trees couldn't grow in northern regions above 18 degrees north latitude. China is now the fourth-largest natural-rubber producer in the world. "Through the research on rubber trees, I reconfirmed the importance of soil," Zhao said.

Zhao also made a soil map in the belief that farm productivity would rise if agricultural products were grown in suitable soil. Great efforts are made to spread various types of soil throughout China.

"Excluding part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, I have visited every part of the nation," Zhao said. It was through investigations during his travels that he was able to compile his soil atlas, published in 1980.

Zhao has occasionally participated in the creation of the government's five-year programs and has engineered cultivation plans based on his research in northeastern China and the Jiangnan area, which includes Nanjing. The implementation of his plans has greatly boosted farm productivity in these regions.

In China, black soil covers the northeastern regions, with yellow ochre covering the middle to north regions. Southern areas have red clay, a substance on which Zhao is well-known worldwide for research.

Zhao's investigations helped clarify how red clay was created and furthered knowledge about such factors as the content of salt, iron, aluminum and other metals, and soil weathering. "Professor Zhao's theories are thought highly of in the world," an executive of the institute said.

Among major global problems regarding soil are erosion, degeneration and oxidation. "If we don't jointly tackle these issues, we will not be able to cope with an expanding population in the 21st century," Zhao stressed. He is increasingly involved in international activities, often attending conferences on environmental protection, such as the prevention of global warming. He has so far visited 35 countries.

Zhao advises his successors to build up experience and knowledge in their 30s and 40s, ages at which he said people are their most energetic. He has also set up a facility to foster young researchers.

Zhao has supported exchanges between researchers in China and Japan for more than 20 years. "My award will be a great incentive for Chinese researchers who are steadily investigating and researching soil. At the same time, it represents the friendship between China and Japan," Zhao said.