North-central region seeks solutions to drought, saline water intrusion
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the People’s Committee of the central province of Nghe An jointly held a conference on July 22 on strengthening the measures responding to drought, saline water and natural disasters in the north-central region.
Nghe An (VNA) – The Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development (MARD) and the People’s Committee of the central province ofNghe An jointly held a conference on July 22 on strengthening the measuresresponding to drought, saline water and natural disasters in the north-centralregion.
Participants analysed the change and the extreme of theweather conditions, seeking solutions related to reservoirs and agriculturerestructuring.
According to the Hyro-Meteorological Centre in the NorthernCentral Region, from the beginning of the year, regional localities havesuffered seven heat waves, five of which in May.
Due to the water shortage, 8,200 hectares of crop have been affectedand subjected to cultivation structure switching. Along with that, 23,870hectares of crop have suffered drought.
Meanwhile, saline water intrusion has caused direct impacton about 12,700 hectares of crops in the basins of Ma and Ca rivers.
Luong Van Anh, Vice Director of the Directorate of WaterResources, said that regional localities should increase their capacity insupervising and forecasting water resources and salinity developments byinstalling automatic monitoring devices, thus actively implementing measuresagainst the phenomena.
Addressing the event, MARD Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong saidthat the impact of extreme weather conditions have occurred even faster thanthe latest scenarios predicted by domestic and foreign experts. The north-centralregion is being hit hardest by drought, requiring it to respond to the disasterand prepare against the flood season at the same time, he said.
The minister advised the localities to focus on measures toensure water for daily activities of locals, including setting up mobile watersupply stations.
For longer vision, the regional localities should reviewtheir conditions to make a master plan to adapt to climate change, whileconsidering the balance between economic structure and water resources./.
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Illustrative image (Source: VNA) 
