well, i think Mr Yuan Longping, the creator of hybrid rice in the 70's, helped alot of people. This is 60% of the rice grown in china, and is now grown in dozens of other countries and is the equivalent of the agricultural increase of 60 million more people fed. Worldwide, 20% of all rice grown is hybrid rice created using his methods.
from wikipedia: "The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization 1991 statistics show that 20 percent of the world's rice output came from 10 percent of the world's rice fields that grow hybrid rice."
"The "Super Rice" Yuan is now working on yields are 30 percent higher than those of common rice. A record yield of 17,055 kilograms per hectare was registered in Yongsheng County in Yunnan Province in 1999."
this is biological scientific achievement during the cultural revolution when most science was stopped. imagine what we are doing right now.
Our nation has not only saved ourselves from starvation, but saved many in africa and asia. Previously, hybrid rice could only work for one generation, as by the 2nd generation the plants would self pollinate and reduce the number of heterozygous plants. The crucial gene for male sterility from wild rice was transfered into crop rice without the use of modern genetic engineering techniques.