HCM City (VNS/VNA) – The Mekong Delta regionshould take proactive measures to protect fruit orchards in the 2020 – 21 dryseason as severe saltwater intrusion in rivers is forecast in the comingmonths, experts have said.

The measures should include zoning areas for each type offruit, securing irrigation water and providing extra care for fruits thatcannot tolerate salinity.

The country’s largest fruit producing region had 25,000ha oforchards affected by saltwater intrusion and lack of irrigation in the 2019 –20 dry season.

Nearly 11,200ha suffered damages of more than 70 percent,according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Recently, the delta’s 12 provinces and Can Tho City tookmeasures like adjusting crop farming schedules and storing irrigation water,limiting the damage to rice and other crops since farmers grew them earlier orstopped growing in affected areas.

The provinces of Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh,and Soc Trang were the worst affected in terms of damage to fruit crops.

Speaking at a recent seminar in Tien Giang province, Tran VanDung, Vice Chairman of the its People’s Committee, said measures had been takento cope with saltwater intrusion and drought very early last dry season, yetthe losses were higher than in 2016, when saltwater intrusion reached recordlevels.

In the province, which has the largest area under fruits inthe delta, nearly 14,500ha of orchards were affected, he said.

“The province has [since] taken measures to recover thedamaged orchards, with the task of washing the soil of salt and rehabilitatingaffected done with great urgency.”

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Le Quoc Doanh, fruits offer higher value than any other crop in thedelta.

To protect orchards from the impacts of climate change,relevant ministries and other agencies should closely monitor farming plans inthe delta and make forecasts about saltwater intrusion, drought and pests andapprise authorities about measures to prevent them, he said.

Saltwater from the sea is forecast to enter 15 - 20km deeperinto rivers than average next year.

At the seminar, the ministry’s Plant Cultivation Departmentinstructed fruit farmers and local authorities to take appropriate measures tocope with it.

It called on owners to measure the salinity of water before irrigatingtheir orchards, warning them the salt content should not exceed one gramme perlitre.

For fruits that cannot tolerate salinity like durian,rambutan and mangosteen, it should not be more than 0.5 grammes, it said.

It encouraged farmers to dredge existing orchard ditches anddig new ones to store water, but also use large plastic bags for storage, anduse the water efficiently.  

They should not grow off - season fruits when there issaltwater intrusion and not enough water for irrigation, it said.  

The delta should build a closed irrigation system for fruitgrowing areas and install automatic saltwater monitoring systems, it added.

The delta has 362,000ha under fruits, accounting for 34percent of the country’s total fruit area, including high-value fruits forexports such as durian, grapefruit and mango.  

Last year its exports were worth 3.7 billion USD.

Le Van Thiet, deputy head of the department, said 988fruit-growing areas in the delta qualified for export to the US, Australia, NewZealand, the Republic of Korea and other demanding markets have been providedwith codes. 

The department has also provided codes for 628 fruit-growingareas in the delta to export to China, he said.

The fruits include dragon fruit, mango, longan, rambutan,water melon, banana, jackfruit and mangosteen./.