"Despite meeting the UN definition of what constitutes safe water, a large number of people are reportedly suffering from illnesses like hepatitis and gastroenteritis in Kazakhstan. If the Millennium Development Goal definition is used, over 90 percent of people in Kazakhstan have access to safe water and sanitation. But the definition does not take into account the distribution, supply, quality and reliability of the supply. When these factors are considered, the actual number of people with access to safe water drops to less than 30 percent.

One of the biggest problems is the disruption to water supplies. On average more than 70 percent of respondents said their water supply was routinely interrupted, rising to 97 percent in certain areas. Interruptions occurred as often as 14 days a month, and lasted for up to 12 hours a time. Even in houses with connections to water supplies 53 percent of people treat the water by boiling it."

"The declining contribution of yields to crop income growth should be viewed seriously. In the euphoria generated by the debt waiver, the real issues of agricultural revival have taken a back seat. The most important issue that still plagues Indian agriculture is the decline in public investment, which has been continuing for almost two decades now. A major reason for farmers falling into debt is declining profitability, primarily due to increasing input costs.

Technology was the main source of crop income growth during the 1980s, while rising prices and diversification emerged as the dominant sources of growth in agriculture during the 1990s. Diversification towards higher value crops such as fruits and vegetables accounted for about 27 percent of crop income growth in the 1980s and 31 percent in the 1990s. Restoring the growth in grain yields will require investment in agricultural research and development."

"The Kyrgyz Rep's mountainous terrain means it has the potential to produce enough hydroelectricity to meet its own needs and for export as well. For now, the cash-strapped authorities argue that privatization is the only way of attracting investment to renovate infrastructure, build new plants and eventually become self-sufficient in electricity, and that the state does not have the funds to sustain current losses, let alone fund new projects.

Legislative changes allowing the Kyrgyz government to privatize the potentially lucrative energy sector without consulting parliament have raised concerns that it wants to speed ahead with sales with little accountability or transparency. Apart from massive inefficiencies, theft and unpaid bills, the power industry is just recovering from an unusually harsh winter which placed a huge strain on existing generating capacity."

"The Philippines, the world's largest rice importer, is likely to curtail the subsidies given to ensure that costly imported rice can be sold at affordable prices on local markets. The reduction in subsidies would free up funds to boost domestic rice production.

Manila announced it planned to buy around 2.6 million metric tons of foreign rice this year to meet domestic consumption. About 1.5 million metric tons have so far been secured in biddings. The cost for the Philippine subsidies would probably shoot up over $1.05 billion, or 0.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product for this year."

"Tajikistan has been battling a locust invasion over the past few weeks, but officials say control measures and assistance from the donor community will allow them to combat the outbreak. Authorities have managed to clear 67,000 hectares of locusts using pesticides so far, but they do not have enough resources to contain the outbreak and clear infested areas, according to experts.

Combined with the harshest winter for 25 years, increasing food prices and a drought that is now developing, a locust infestation of the size predicted would be more than government structures and household coping mechanisms could bear. The Ministry of Agriculture had allocated about $1.3 million for anti-locust measures this year. However, those funds were not sufficient because this year the area affected was double what it was last year."

"The Sri Lankan government has extended fishing areas and the hours that boats can operate in Eastern Province, saying it will boost the industry that is worth $685 million annually. Almost half the 30,000 Sri Lankans killed by the tsunami lived in the Tamil-majority north and northeast of the island nation. The fishing industry's contribution to gross domestic product returned last year to levels seen before the tsunami.

Fishermen are already restricted to working near the shore because of the threat of attacks by the navy in the open sea, according to the secretariat. Eastern Province, which accounts for 15 percent of Sri Lanka's land area and 7.9 percent of its population of 20 million people, contributed less than 5 percent of gross domestic product during its occupation by rebels, according to the central bank."

"The fluctuation of international commodities prices, including food and fuel, has triggered big worries in the domestic food industry in Indonesia over whether the industry will able to survive the turbulence. Other challenges Indonesian manufacturers also have to face are high electricity and fuel prices, increasing labor costs, lack of infrastructure and cheaper finished products from China.

The market opportunity for the food industry in Indonesia is still wide open as consumption of food in the country is people's dominant expenditure. People spend 54 percent of their income on food. Indonesia's food and beverage exports are expected to grow from 10 to 15 percent in 2008. The food and beverages industry is still a good sector for both domestic players and importers. The prospect is not only for the manufacturers, but also for the suppliers of those manufacturers and distributors of the products."

"The Japanese government has pledged to help Viet Nam tackle power shortages and help solve the nation's increasing demand for electricity by carrying out a study on efficient energy use and conservation. Electricity power consumption in Viet Nam has increased at an annual growth rate of 15% during the past several years. It is expected to continue rising to reach approximately 2.5 times the current figure by 2010 and seven times that by 2020.

To meet the surging demand for energy, the Vietnamese government has implemented several new development projects, such as exploitation of gas/coal and the construction of new electric power plants in Viet Nam and abroad in countries such as Lao PDR."

"Economic growth alone is insufficient to meet Asian countries' millennium development goals (MDGs) of halving poverty and cutting AIDS incidence by 2015. If per capita gross domestic product (GDP) rises by one percentage point, the headcount poverty ratio tends to fall by 0.86 percent, but growth has less effect on other MDGs such as under-nutrition, child and maternal mortality.

Even in the unlikely event that countries boosted their projected per capita GDP economic growth by three percentage points, many countries would remain off-track in achieving some of the MDGs. To achieve the MDGs they will need to improve the structure and quality of economic growth as well as make appropriate changes to national development strategies."

"Indonesia, where close to 100 million people live in areas susceptible to malaria, has embarked on a drive to eliminate the disease by 2030. Last year, 1.75 million Indonesians were clinically diagnosed with malaria and more than 300,000 people tested positive for the disease.

The fatality rate in Indonesia is estimated at about 1 percent, but it is believed that many deaths are not recorded due to a lack of access to health services among people in remote villages. Under a program recently launched by the health ministry, Indonesia aims to halve by 2010 the number of villages where more than five in 1,000 people are infected with malaria and eliminate the disease by 2030."

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