COA officials said that 3,280 hectares will be used in soybean cultivation, 1,240 hectares will go to raising sunflowers, and an additional 30-hectares of cropland is designated to raise sweet potatoes on a trial basis. Soybeans, rape seed, and sunflowers can be turned into ethanol used in biodiesel, while sweet potatoes have been chosen to supply the ethanol to be blended with gasoline during manufacturing trials.
The government started its "biofuel development project" two years ago, in an attempt to reduce reliance on imported fuels. According to a recent survey released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, of 2006 national energy supplies -- amounting to the equivalent of 138 million kiloliters of oil -- 98.22 percent was imported.
Officials explained that some 220,000 hectares of farmland around the island are left fallow every year, the COA has thus decided to utilize this land to produce biofuel-related raw materials, for which demand is increasing.
At the beginning of the project in early 2005, agricultural agencies chose three 30 hectare experimental sites -- in northern, central and southern Taiwan respectively -- for cultivation of soybean, rape, and sunflower.
The land involved was expanded to 1,721 hectares in 2006 -- located in counties of Yunlin, Chiayi, and Tainan -- and the produce has been entirely used in biodiesel production.
Officials noted that the scale of the project not only expanded in terms of cropland utilized, but also in the number of counties involved -- Taipei County and Taoyuan County have decided to join, rising the number from three to five.
