Non-staple crops in China like sorghum, batata and cassava will become the new sources for ethanol as China has decided to stop ethanol production from corn, said an official from the country's top economic policymaking agency.

Xiong Bilin, deputy director of industry department from the National Development and Reform Commission , told a forum in Beijing over the weekend that the State Council, or China's Cabinet, has decided that ethanol fuel should be developed without occupying arable land, large-scale consumption of grain or damages to the environment.

"The country will not approve new projects of food-based ethanol," Xiong said. "The current four plants engaged in making ethanol from corn are urged to switch to new sources."

Among the four ethanol fuel producing plants, Tianguan Group, based in Central China's Henan Province, China's major agricultural region, has already shifted 20 percent of its production from corn to cassava. The plant has an annual production of 300,000 tons of ethanol.

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The four Chinese plants now make corn-based ethanol, with a total annual capacity of over 1 million tons, according to Xinhua.

Shi Yuanchun, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said China is rich in the new sources for biofuel.

The country is the world's biggest batata grower, with 7 million hectares and an annual production of 150 million tons, accounting for 80 percent of the global output. Each hectare can yield about 20 tons of dry batata, which can be converted into 3-5 tons of ethanol.

China has 440,000 hectares producing cassava, which yields the same amount of ethanol per unit as batata, accourding to Shi.

Sorghum, which can be grown on the vast salina area in China's northern area, yields 4-6 tons of ethanol per hectare.

Shi said China has a total potential land source of 27 million hectares suitable for bio-energy production of 500 million tons of coal equivalent every year.

China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs (COFCO), owner of one of the ethanol producers, plans to focus on cassava, said its president Yu Xubo.

The factory is based in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the country's top cassava grower, with an annual production of 8 million tons. Its annual ethanol production goal has been set at 200,000 tons. "The project will be launched soon," Xiong said.

China is promoting ethanol fuel to reduce reliance on imported oil but worries that demand for raw material could push up food prices and the need for scarce farmland.