"One of the main priorities related to the agricultural and economic development of Indonesia is the preparation of a regulation on a large-scale food production system. Food estates will be implemented in areas where huge tracts of empty land are still available and where it is not so populous, such as Merauke in Papua. The government will invite foreign and national corporations to participate in the program.

However, we should be careful in evaluating potential negative impacts, or even losses, by the introduction of food estates. In the last two years 42.6 million small-scale farmers have had the capability to supply national food demand, at least for rice self-sufficiency. Why doesn't the government pay more attention to this sector and introduce various support programs to strengthen farming activities? If there is no mechanism for reducing the problems of small-scale farmers in populous areas under the introduction of food estates, it means the program is meaningless for the majority of farmers."

"In 2009, PRC's land supply for low-income housing totaled 10,400 hectares, up 30.9 percent year on year, and local governments generated 1.59 trillion yuan ($233 billion) from land sales, 63.4 percent higher compared with the previous year, revealed the Ministry of Land and Resource (MLR). The ministry vowed to increase the portion of construction land for low and middle-priced housing and small to medium-sized apartments, as well as general commercial housing in 2010.

Affordable housing, low-rent housing and small to medium-sized apartments should make up over 70 percent of local governments' annual plans for residential housing. Meanwhile, for more effective after-supply monitoring and regulation, the MLR will publish the implementation status of each city's plan for low-income housing every six months."

"Although microfinance has made some gains in alleviating poverty in Pakistan, the amount invested lies in danger of being spent on daily items owing to extreme poverty. What in fact is required is the provision of certain services that may enable an individual to become a self-earner. So the first and foremost thing in this regard is not to simply extend credit but to provide raw materials along with skills.

What could further be added is the provision of health and education facilities to the community so that each individual keeps on learning during this process. By adopting this method, microfinance becomes a well-organized business as well as a community service and the incidence of default is reduced."

"Buoyed by the successful use of plastic waste to build three stretches of road, the Himachal Pradesh government will now use all the plastic waste it collected during a drive last month for road surfacing. The plastic waste would be used for laying plastic-bitumen mix roads in the state. This waste would be sufficient to tar a stretch of 138 km.

The Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board in collaboration with the Public Works Department (PWD) has built three road stretches on a pilot basis by using shredded plastic waste on the outskirts of Shimla. The results have been good in the past four months as there has been no stripping or any other major damage to the roads laid by using plastic-asphalt mix. Of course, the plastic blend not only helps lowering the cost of tarring but also enhances the durability of roads because of the higher binding strength of plastic."

"Bangladesh, with a population of 150 million, has only 800,000 taxpayers. In other forms of tax collection like that for imports, sales, gain, land, Vat, etc., a good deal of effort is usually made, but for income tax, no serious move has yet been taken to expand the base.

Against such a backdrop, it's good news that the National Board of Revenue is set to launch from Feb. 8, a three-month survey to identify new taxpayers in Dhaka and its adjoining areas with the help of university students. Nothing could be a better utilization of educated youth power than harnessing it in the national service like finding new taxpayers thereby helping to expand the country's weak tax base."

"PRC should increase social spending to push forward reforms such as health care, welfare and education to sustain its economic growth, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said in a report. Although China's reforms have increasingly focused on the need for social cohesion in recent years, said the report, more efforts are still needed in various areas to improve people's living standards over a longer term.

The fragmented system of welfare assistance, pension and health care should be unified, it said, stressing reforms on health care should be continued so as to ensure that provision at local levels is improved and eventually the different insurance systems are unified. It also said China's registration system and restrictions on migrant workers' access to social services create obstacles to labor mobility and therefore should be relaxed."

"Longer life spans, falling fertility rates and growing ranks of elderly people in Asia can pose problems as serious as the impact of climate change, a leading expert has warned. Problems linked to aging populations will complicate Asian economies' recovery from the global financial crisis.

Countries with a large number of elderly people and a low birth rate will face demographic and economic problems supporting a large number of seniors. Asia's population of those above 60 years old is estimated to quadruple by 2050 to 1.2 billion people, four times the size of senior citizens in the US and Europe combined."

"The Department of Energy (DOE) has warned of a power supply shortfall in the Philippines this year as the El Nino dry weather phenomenon threatens to pull down water levels, thus jeopardizing the availability of electricity especially in the Philippines' second biggest island. The agency will convene an industry-wide meeting to address El Nino's potential impact on hydro power plants, and to rationalize the maintenance schedule of those facilities so they don't disrupt the country's power supply.

The government is stepping up its monitoring of hydro power plants' output, particularly those located in Mindanao, which relies heavily on such facilities for its electricity requirements. The country's second largest island is already faced with a tight power supply situation because of transmission line constraints and limited generation."

"Poor funding support for recovery efforts after Cyclone Nargis has left hundreds of thousands in Myanmar vulnerable, many without durable shelters to withstand further disasters, the UN says. In November last year, donors pledged more than $88 million after an appeal for $103 million to cover critical recovery needs. To date, more than $90.4 million has been committed and some additional commitments by donors are expected.

But some of the pledges in November were reconfirmations of previous support, rather than new pledges. In total, $215 million has been committed since the appeal was released, which is now trickling down to the population in the Nargis-affected areas. Adding to the challenge is Myanmar's domestic political situation, which makes it among the lowest recipients in the world of overseas development assistance."

"The Afghan Ministry of Education started literacy centers for women and girls two decades ago to provide them with basic, informal education. The centers were meant to bridge a gap for remote villagers who lived far from schools. But other obstacles -- including traditional attitudes about a woman's place in the home and, more recently, the influence of the Taliban -- have kept most women from reaping the benefits of such centers. Today, five out of six Afghan women remain illiterate.

Since 2008, UNICEF has been working with its partners to improve those numbers by supporting hundreds of informal literacy centers throughout Afghanistan. Still, forming a female study group can be a difficult task in an environment that is often hostile to girls' and women's education. Women are asked not just if they are willing to join, but whether their male relatives will give them permission."

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