ADBI E-Newsline

"Viet Nam is forecast to overtake Thailand to become the world's leading rice exporter before 2015 as Thai rice becomes more expensive to produce and the Vietnamese dong (VND) has become weaker, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association. Thailand's rice exports could drop to 8 million tons this year. In 2009, Thailand exported 8.6 million tons of rice while Viet Nam exported only 6 million.

The average gap between the price of comparable varieties of Vietnamese and Thai rice has widened. The price of Thailand's 5% broken rice was $68 higher than Vietnam's in 2008 and rose to $123 higher in 2009. The value of VND has also fallen since 2008, resulting in cheaper Vietnamese rice exports compared to the previous two years."

"Almost 20 percent of Thailand's next fiscal year's budget is dedicated to education. More funding for the current education system will not provide the needed advancements in quality education. A complete overhaul including teacher training, school organization reform, and pedagogical innovation is essential to true reform.

The current education system does not hold any actors within the cycle accountable for their actions. Not holding anyone accountable in a politically driven society is a dangerous path. Accountability-based school systems would yield great benefits for parents and our education system as a whole."

"Bangladeshis working overseas sent home a record $11 billion in the just concluded fiscal year, as remittances continued to rise despite the declining trend of manpower export, officials said. The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at an all time high at $10.81 billion on Monday, thanks to a robust growth of remittances from expatriate Bangladeshis, central bank officials said.

Channeling overseas workers' incomes through legal routes also helped scale up the remittance inflow, another BB official said, adding that the central bank has enacted stringent anti-money laundering laws and encouraged commercial banks to tie up with overseas exchange houses in the past few years."

"The village of Netsi in Rajasthan lies in the heart of the 200,000 sq km Thar desert. With an average annual rainfall of less than 16 cm (Delhi has an average rainfall of 61.7cm), it is one of the driest regions of India. To make matters worse, the groundwater here is saline, which also makes it unsuitable for agriculture. So, how do the people here survive?

Gypsum is a non-porous element, which doesn't allow water to seep through. When raindrops fall on the surface of sand, its particles start behaving like sponge and absorb every drop of this water. Over a period of time, water gets deposited between the upper layer of sand and the lower layer of gypsum belt. This storing of water between the layers by nature has been continuing for centuries. Villagers found this to be helpful and constructed small wells to extract this."

"The first study to follow people exposed to arsenic in the long term has found that one in five deaths in Bangladesh could be attributed to drinking well water contaminated with the substance. Researchers found that long-term exposure, even to low levels of arsenic, through drinking water increases the mortality rate from a variety of diseases.

Chronic exposure to arsenic is linked with cancer of the liver, kidney, bladders and skin, as well as heart disease. Previous studies have found that arsenic contaminated water is a major problem in Bangladesh and that it can even contaminate crops, such as rice, grown in tainted water. Up to half of Bangladesh's population of around 140 million people, and further millions around the world, are chronically exposed to arsenic through drinking water."

"PRC has said it will invest more than $100 billion this year in 23 new infrastructure projects in impoverished western regions as part of efforts to boost domestic demand. The plan was announced after Premier Wen Jiabao said the Chinese economy was facing an 'extremely complicated' situation and two purchasing manager surveys showed manufacturing activity had slowed in June.

The 682.2 billion yuan will be used to build railways, roads, airports, coal mines, nuclear power stations and power grids, the National Development and Reform Commission said on its website. Construction will start this year to actively expand domestic demand and promote the fast and healthy development of the western areas, the top economic planning agency said."

"Afghanistan's development strategy is organized around five clusters. Economic growth is one such cluster, focusing on poverty reduction, job creation, and sustainable development. The key to achieving each of the above objectives is the extraction and export of Afghanistan's natural resources to global markets. This would be the fastest way to earn the revenue the country needs in order to fuel long-term economic growth.

The list of known mineral deposits in Afghanistan is a long one, including copper, iron, chromium, magnesium, rubies, emeralds, lapis lazuli, nickel, mercury, gold, silver, lithium, and uranium. Investment in Afghanistan's mineral sector would entail work in developing Afghanistan's transportation infrastructure. Such projects would be needed to get extracted minerals to international markets. But they would also serve as an important job-creation mechanism."

"A new health insurance scheme covers up to Rs 30,000 through a smart card to people who live Below Poverty Line on payment of a mere Rs 30. The 60 million population enrolled under it swears by the scheme which is a revolution in procuring them medical facilities.

This is the first use, on this scale, of India's technology prowess to run a national social-security program. If the program succeeds, it could be the precursor for reforms in other schemes. Five people per family can walk into 5,000 public and private hospitals across India, produce their insurance card and get healthcare. No paperwork. No cash. No questions asked."

"PRC's central government must strive to make urban life more resource efficient and environment friendly. For instance, 90 percent of the country's cities suffer from water shortages. If the nation can effectively use recycled water for purposes other than drinking, it will contribute greatly to warding off water scarcity in big metros.

Despite pressure from a rapidly aging population -- the number of people over 60 years of age is expected to increase by 8 million annually to 200 million by the end of 2015 -- the family planning policy needs to be retained to ensure the country's long-term development."

"To wipe out rice imports and achieve food security in three years, the Philippine government is looking at promoting upland rice farming and propagating food crops indigenous to every region. The Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking at expanding areas for upland rice farming and encouraging the propagation of traditional rice varieties to prop up rice production and do away with rice imports by 2013.

Aside from this, the DA would like to ensure that farmers will have more access to credit and postharvest facilities. The Philippine Rice Research Institute noted that a number of rice varieties that are suitable for upland areas are currently available in the market today. There are about 100,000 hectares of upland areas all over the country."

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