Yuan Longping checks rice at a base in South China's Hainan province, on April 2, 2004. [Photo by Huang Yiming/chinadaily.com.cn]

President Xi Jinping extended condolences to scientist Yuan Longping's family on Sunday and called on people to learn from him, the "father of hybrid rice".

Yuan Longping, renowned for developing the first hybrid rice strain that pulled countless people out of hunger, passed away in a hospital in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, on Saturday.

Having spent over five decades in hybrid rice research, he has helped China work a great wonder -- feeding nearly one-fifth of the world's population with less than 9 percent of the world's total land.