Dong Nai (VNS/VNA) - The People’s Committee of the southern provinceof Dong Nai has called on relevant agencies and the public to take proactivemeasures to ward off a freshwater shortage as drought and saltwater intrusionin rivers cause an increasing shortage.

It instructed authorities around the province to keep a close eye on the weatherand water bodies to estimate availability for production and domestic needs.

They also need to find ways to prevent saltwater intrusion, it said.

Based on the water availability in their localities, they should switch cropsand restructure agriculture and comply with relevant agencies’ recommendationsto mitigate possible damages caused by drought and saltwater intrusion, itsaid. 

It wanted them to take the initiative to adopt necessary methods to storewater, strengthen forecasts of water levels in reservoirs and mobilise funds tobuild and upgrade freshwater supply systems.

The province's Environmental Protection Sub-department said it would check thequality of water in the four main aquaculture regions to provide informationand warnings, if required, to local authorities and farmers to reducelosses. 

The province has 32,000 hectares of aquaculture farms.

The water storage in irrigation reservoirs in Dong Nai is down to 63.8 percentof capacity. Water levels in rivers and streams are also low, at less than 72 percentof their levels a year ago. The salinity rate is around 5.5 grammes per litre,according to the People’s Committee. 

According to the province’s Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting,rainfall will be scant from March to June and temperatures until June will be0.5-1.5 degrees Celsius higher than normal.

Ho Chi Minh City has not yet been affected by saltwater intrusion.

Tri An Reservoir in Dong Nai province will discharge water to clear salinity inrivers. It stores a large volume of water and responds to drought and saltwaterintrusion in the lower sections.

More farmers in the south-central province of Ninh Thuận are using automaticirrigation systems to water their crops, saving water and improving productionefficiency.

The automatic irrigation systems with spray or drip methods have helped farmerscope with water shortages caused by drought in the province, which has theleast rainfall in the country.

Nguyen Thanh Quang spent 30 million VND (1,290 USD) to install a sprayirrigation system in his 5,000sq.m of grape orchard in Ninh Hai district’s VinhHai Commune last year. He has no longer had to worry about the shortage ofirrigation water for his orchard in the ongoing dry season. 

In previous dry seasons, many grapevines in his orchard died because of thelack of irrigation water, he said.

The spray irrigation system can maintain soil humidity suitable for the growthof grapes and help grape roots develop well, he said.

The spray irrigation system can also be used to spray fertiliser directly ongrape roots, reducing the loss of fertiliser caused by traditional irrigationmethods.

Farmers normally irrigate a large quantity of water for crops in traditionalmethods which can wash away fertiliser for crops.

The cost of buying an automatic irrigation system for each 1,000sq.m of farmingarea is 5-12 million VND (210-510 USD) and the system can save 20-40 percent ofirrigation water compared to traditional irrigation methods, according tofarmers.

An automatic irrigation system requires a water pump, a water tank, water linesand irrigation valves. To irrigate crops, farmers only need to open theautomatic irrigation system and the irrigation task will be automatically done,saving time and labour.

Farmers in the province use automatic irrigation systems for various crops,including grapes, asparagus, aloe, peanut and vegetables.

Tu Van Phuc of Ninh Phuoc district’s An Hai commune said drought has occurredin his area in recent years and to secure irrigation water for his 5,000sq.masparagus field, he installed an automatic irrigation system in 2018.

The automatic irrigation system has released proper amount of irrigation waterto keep soil humid for asparagus, he said.

Ninh Thuan is strengthening restructuring of agricultural production activitiesto cope with the impact of drought and authorities have encouraged rice farmersto switch to drought-resistant crops in drought-prone areas.

Pham Dung, head of the province’s Plant Protection and CultivationSub-department, said the strengthening of restructuring agriculture and theapplication of efficient irrigation methods are feasible solutions for usingwater reasonably and efficiently during drought.

The province has about 1,500ha of crops which apply efficient irrigationmethods, he said.

The province has encouraged farmers to apply efficient irrigation methods andhas provided them with techniques for installing such systems for variouscrops.

Only 53.7 percent of farming areas in Ninh Thuan have secured irrigation water,according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The province's farmers have turned nearly 6,500ha of ineffective rice to otherhigh value crops like grapes, jujube, grapefruits, asparagus and aloe in recentyears.

The province is expected to have a total of 86,000ha farming rice and varioustypes of crops this year./.