Sorghum, cassava and other biofuel crops will be planted on lands that are unfit for grain production, state media quoted Yang Jian, a director at the Ministry of Agriculture as saying. The ministry has allocated land in Shangdong and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to produce sweet sorghum as a start to the trials, Yang said.

China, which relies mostly on polluting energy sources such as coal, has set a goal of producing about six million tonnes of cleaner-burning substitutes such as ethanol by 2010 and 15 million tonnes by 2020.

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The pilot programs come amid concern over increasing amounts of grain crops being used for biofuel. The trend has contributed to prices for corn, soy, wheat and other essential foods nearing record highs in recent weeks.

Corn accounted for 76 percent of the 1.02 million tonnes of ethanol produced last year.

Yang repeated government statements recently that the government would not allow grain crops to be converted into biofuel if that came at the expense of limiting food supplies.

"We have a principle with regard to biofuel: it should neither be at the cost of grains for people's consumption nor should it compete with grain crops for cultivated land," China Daily quoted Yang as saying.

Non-grain crops could eventually produce 300 million tonnes of ethanol a year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE