"The Indonesian government has finalized plans for the country's first integrated food production zone in Merauke, Papua. The food estates, as they are known, are designed to stimulate large-scale investment in the agriculture sector and beef up food security. The developers will be prevented from exporting any of their produce until the nation's food needs have been met.

If the pilot project, which aims to attract domestic and international investors with a series of tax breaks, is successful, the government hopes to establish similar zones elsewhere in eastern Indonesia. The project will see 1.6 million hectares of land in Merauke transformed into an integrated farming, plantation and livestock zone, where companies will grow, process and package their products in one place."

"Viet Nam's rice exports were at a new high last year at more than six million tons, but analysts cautioned against complacency saying the country owed the success to external factors rather than internal strengths. They said demand for Vietnamese rice surged since other major exporters like Thailand and India cut back on exports while the economic slump boosted demand for rice worldwide as a substitute for other foods.

The question, they said, is how long the market situation will remain so favorable for Vietnamese rice exports. With the population increasing and farmlands shrinking globally, rice demand is expected to stay high in the future. Malaysia has approved a 2.4 billion ringgit ($700 million) food security plan while China is offering various financial incentives to increase rice output."

"A new task force has been announced to build capacity for the implementation of education sector reforms in Pakistan. The group aims to turn the government's commitment to provide education for all primary age children into a reality. This is a positive development. There are more than six million children in Pakistan who are not in school and it's vital for their future, and for the country's future that these children have the chance of an education.

However, what lies ahead for the task force members is no easy task. National education policies have lacked clear cut implementation goals. In fact, most policies have failed miserably at the implementation stage leading to the dismal scenario that education faces in Pakistan today. Education was never a priority with most governments, elected or otherwise, and fewer and fewer concerted attempts were made to enhance our capacity for reform."

"2010 will be another challenging year for the government to develop the country's logistics system so Thailand can maximize trade and investment benefits from the forging of the Asean Free Trade Agreement, many industry experts say. What the government wants to do is bring down as low as possible logistics costs, say from 19.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2005 to 16 percent in 2011, as targeted by the National Economic and Social Development Board.

Though the government plans to spend Bt300 billion ($9.14 billion) on logistics development in the next five years, one-third of that is optimistically focused on the railway system across the country. Many logistics firms want the government to do more."

"PRC's substantial economic growth model has resulted in the increasing contradiction between China's economic and social development and the pressures to support its population, resources and ecological environment. Six decades since the founding of New China, the country's gross domestic product has increased by 14 times, while consumption of mineral resources has multiplied by 40 times.

This growth model is unsustainable in the future. The impact of the international financial crisis on China is an alarm for the nation's unreasonable growth trend. Institutionally speaking, the market can't fulfill its role, partly because of inexperienced markets in land, energy and capital, as well as the excessive interference of administrative decrees."

"The fall in demand for Indian goods squeezed merchandise exports for 13 straight months till last November when the trend reversed and exports registered a growth of 18 percent; that record was repeated in the following month. If exports have turned the corner should the government still be so generous with its duty concessions? To influence real expansion, policymakers figure that exporters still need help and they are right. The issue however is: What kind of help and to what end?

If the idea is to ensure that labor-intensive sectors maintain employment then retaining interest subvention for such industries makes sense. On the other hand, offering reduced interest rates for dollar loans plus one percentage point, instead of 3.5 percent, may not necessarily earn exporters the market access they desire. Labor-intensive industries need to upgrade their offerings and processes; incentive packages therefore must stimulate both providers of innovation and new technologies and industry-users."

"The Philippines' weak economic growth may persist until the first semester of the year because of the El Nino phenomenon, according to economists. The dry spell could cut by half the country's agriculture output during the first half of the year. However, the impact would depend on the severity of El Nino -- how long and which areas will be affected.

In 1998, Philippine GDP contracted by 0.6 percent because of an El Nino episode and the Asian financial crisis. Back then, El Nino damaged 2.5 million metric tons of crops over an area of more than a million hectares for an aggregate amount of P8.3 billion ($181 million)."

"The proposed Sarawak complex of hydroelectric dams is expected to lead to a forced resettlement of the affected tribal communities to an unfriendly place as well as to inundation of the state's vast tracts of rainforest, said to be the earth's oldest tropical rainforest. The proposed massive dams are intended to generate cheap electricity and feed China's rapidly expanding economy on top of Malaysia's energy-consuming manufacturing industries that are intended to be relocated to the state.

The complex is expected to have a combined power-generating capacity of 7,000 megawatts (MW) by 2020, or at least 600 percent more than the current capacity of the island. On Jan. 11, the government announced plans by China and Malaysia to pursue joint venture energy projects amounting to $11 billion in Sarawak."

"Rural women engaged with self-help groups in a north Indian village are the new faces of cooperative business. Starting as a single group, these women went on to set up many agro-eco-based income-generation initiatives, trading surplus food items to local markets, as well as in big cities. Women in the Uttarkashi district of the hill state of Uttarakhand in India, traditionally sidelined from the developmental processes, are forming their own cooperative and producing processed food items, giving big multinational brands a run for their money in local markets.

At present, the women across this district are actively engaged in the production and sale of garlic, ginger, chili and mixed vegetable pickles. The latter comprises mango and seasonal vegetables. The women also make fruit jam, chutney and fruit candy. Though women's self-help groups and other thrift groups have been engaged in community-based activities for over two decades now, organizing women under a proper business program has been the biggest challenge so far."

"As climate change poses a great challenge to PRC's agricultural sector, the government and farmers should tackle it in a scientific and systematic way, according to the vice minister of agriculture. Climate change has posed great threats to the traditional farming sector, and extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, hailstorm, tropical storms, have ruined harvests far more often than before.

The Chinese government would help farmers, herdsmen and fishermen create a sustainable mode of production by applying new technologies with lower costs and lower emissions. The government will intensify investment of agricultural infrastructure and projects and impart more scientific knowledge and climate-friendly concepts to farmers, such as providing peasants with quality seeds, machinery and advanced technologies."

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