As a war of words rages over biofuels and their impact on world food supplies, researchers in India are promoting sweet sorghum as a crop that combines the best of both worlds. The plants, which grow three metres high in dry conditions, yield grain that can be eaten by people or animals; their stalks provide sweet juice for bioethanol production and a crushed residue that can be burnt or fed to cattle.

Scientists at India's National Research Centre for Sorghum and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics near Hyderabad announced this week that they had developed new varieties of sweet sorghum, which could provide sugary juice for year-round fermentation and distillation into ethanol. The first sorghum bioethanol plant began operations last year in Andhra Pradesh and more plants will be built in collaboration with Tata Chemical.