The agriculture ministry will launch a pilot project to grow vegetables in greenhouses using biomass energy beginning in fiscal 2007.
Ministry officials said Tuesday they hope the experiment will create a new means of supplying energy to farmers, who are struggling with high production costs in the face of rising oil prices.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will pick two districts for the experiment and will try to reduce oil consumption there by half over a three-year period, the officials said.
The system will generate electricity from methane from garbage and manure, the officials said. The electricity will be transmitted to greenhouses and used for lighting and other purposes.