The government is to develop a number of new crop bases by 2010 to provide sufficient biomass resources to meet the country's growing demand for ethanol, the Ministry of Agriculture has said.

According to its Agricultural Biofuel Industry Plan, released yesterday, the bases will mostly grow sugarcane, sweet sorghum, cassava and rape for use in the production of both ethanol and biodiesel.

The plan rules out the expansion of grain-based ethanol production, specifically corn and potato-based, to avoid any detrimental impact on the food sector.