Niigata pioneering rice-based biofuel

A new project in which bioethanol will be produced from rice cultivated in fallow farmland and mixed with gasoline will begin in Niigata Prefecture in mid-July, it has been learned. The project is being undertaken by JA Zen-Noh, the national federation of agricultural cooperative associations, in cooperation with the Niigata prefectural government. With the central government having announced a policy of cutting rice hectareage, the sale of the environmentally friendly “green gasoline” is seen as an effective way of utilizing the resulting unused rice fields. Although there are still some concerns over the cost of producing the fuel, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said the project is the first of its kind anywhere in the world to use rice for fuel in this way. They are planning to produce 445 liters of ethanol per ton of rice and produce 1,000 kiloliters of ethanol annually. Of the nation’s about 2.6 million hectares of rice paddies, staple rice is cultivated on about 1.5 million hectares, or 60 percent of the total area of rice fields. “To be honest, we’d like to be producing a lot of tasty rice that we can sell at a good price. (July 1, 2009)