Taiwan hopes to produce ethanol from sweet potatoes

Taiwan will become the world’s first country to produce alcohol-based fuel from yams if current plans are successful, said the Council of Agriculture (COA) on January 4. Taiwan’s almost 220,000 hectares of uncultivated farmland is ideal for developing a biofuel industry, according to the COA. This joint project by COA’s Agriculture and Food Agency (AFA) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Energy (BOE), will use some 30 hectares of fallow farmland to plant the vegetable in 2007. If successful, this new biofuel would alleviate Taiwan’s current demand for fossil-based fuel, 98% of which is imported. Last year, the COA also produced biofuels from soybeans, sunflowers, and rape blossoms for a total of 1,721 hectares of crops. (January 6, 2007)