'Evergreen agriculture' could impact future biofuel composition

Research into boosting yields of cereal crops could see the feedstock used to greater extents in biofuel composition of the future.

Dr Dennis Garrity, director general of the World Agroforestry Centre, is looking into the use of 'fertiliser trees' to help increase food output in African nations where famine is a high risk factor.

However, his findings could also have implications for raising the use of crops like maize in biofuel composition, by increasing yields in areas where the crops are already in plentiful supply as food.

The key to the process is the planting of trees which absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere, passing it into the ground around them through leaf fall and their roots system.

In turn, the nitrogen passes to the surrounding crops, feeding them in the same way a nitrate fertiliser might do.

The World Agroforestry Centre calls the procedure a "science-based solution" to enhancing food production by smallholders which offers good levels of accessibility and affordability.