With Chinese help, new corn sprouts in Indonesia

"The newly-developed corn seeds, which are able to substantially raise yields, are recognized and highly praised by local experts and farmers," Ding said.

The seeds can also be used in southwestern China, he said, adding that talks are underway with several seed companies in China.

"The seeds developed in Indonesia have enriched our seed bank, laying a foundation for us to develop more new seeds," Ding said.

Ding and his partners once tried to introduce seeds from China to Indonesia, but they found the seeds performed poorly there. They built a base in Indonesia to cultivate new seeds and finally found success.

Experts cultivated hundreds of seed components to create a hybrid. They selected 10 hybrids for experiments, four of which passed the national assessment.

"It's not easy to develop a new variety of seed in a country that has a lot of rain. We needed to figure out what kind of seeds are adaptable to the weather," Ding said.

"It frequently happened that when we were ready for planting, it suddenly rained, making the soil sticky and unsuitable for planting. Planting techniques will also influence the yield," he added.

The planting methods for the newly developed seeds are different from the traditional approach of by Indonesian farmers, Ding said.

"Two or three seeds are planted in one hole because the seedlings are easily damaged by downy mildew. The newly developed seeds are resistant to that, so we only need to put one seed in one hole, making work more efficient."