Dong Thap (VNS/VNA) - Farmers in the Mekong Delta’s upstreamareas are waiting for the flood season, which brings sediment to rice fieldsand other areas of aquatic resources.

The delta’s flood season normally occurs between August and November, but thisyear floodwaters caused by the rising level of the Mekong River in the rainyseason have not appeared in many rice fields in upstream areas.

In Dong Thap province’s Hong Ngu district, the first locality which usuallyfloods, farmers are opening more than 9,000ha of rice fields to wait forfloodwaters.

The district has decided to not grow the autumn-winter rice crop, the year’sthird rice crop, on more than 9,000ha of rice fields and will releasefloodwater into the fields to fertilise the soil and destroy pathogens andpests.

Nguyen Van Hoc in the district’s Thuong Thoi Hau A commune said that afterharvesting the summer-autumn rice, he did not grow the autumn-winter and is preparingto receive floodwaters for his field.

He ploughed his rice field so that it will absorb sediments when the fieldreceives floodwater.  However, the levelof floodwater is low now and has not entered his field.

If low floodwaters cannot enter the field, the next winter-spring rice will beaffected because wild grasses, pathogens and pests still exist in the field, Hocsaid.

In addition, the production cost of the winter-spring rice will be high becausethe field has not been fertilised by flood sediments.

The delta’s flood season is expected to come late this year because of lowrainfall, and will be weaker than normal.

The flood season is estimated to reach its peak at the end of this month and be0.2 – 0.4 metre lower than the average level of many years, according to theNational Centre for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting.

Floodwaters are now appearing in some upstream areas in Dong Thap and An Giangprovinces. Farmers who catch fish and other aquatic species are also waitingfor the rising of floodwaters since big floods offer more fish and othernatural resources.

Nguyen Van Doan, who has earned a living from catching mud crabs in Dong Thap’sHong Ngu district for 15 years, said the number of mud crabs had declinedsignificantly in recent years, especially in years when there are small floods.

He now catches only 13 – 14 kilogramme of crabs every two days.

Fishing tool production

Villages that make tools for catching fish and other aquatic species in thedelta have entered their production period for the flooding season, but theiroperations are not busy as in previous years.

The villages include the Rom Thom fishing net-making village in Can Tho city’s ThotNot district, Lai Vung fishing net-making village in Dong Thap’s Lai Vung districtand Binh Thanh crab-catching tool making village in Dong Thap’s Hong Ngu district.

Binh Thanh produces crab-catching tools year round, but its busiest productiontime is during the flooding season.

Nguyen Van Ghi, whose establishment makes crab-catching tools in Binh Thanh formore than 20 years, said he normally made 4,000 of these tools each year inprevious years.

However, he only makes about 2,000 crab catching tools this year because ofsmall floods.

This year, floodwaters had occurred late and were low, so catching fish andother aquatic species in the flood season in upstream areas had just started,he said.

“The sales of fish-catching tools are lower than in previous years,” he said.

Crab-catching tools made from bamboo areselling at a price of 27,000 VND (1.2 USD) each, and producers can earn aprofit of 8,000 – 10,000 VND for each, according to producers.

Binh Thanh’s crab-catching tools are sold in the province and neighbouringprovince of Long An and are also exported to Cambodia.

The village has nearly 100 households making crab-catching tools./.