Many coastal areas in the Mekong Delta are experiencing saline intrusion, threatening thousands of hectares of rice crops.
InSoc Trang province, saline intrusion has occurred most severely in LongPhu district's Long Phu, Tan Hung and Tan Thanh communes and Long Phutown. Many rice plants that are blooming are facing a severe shortage ofwater, Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper has reported.
FarmerLam Chien in Long Phu commune's Nuoc Man 2 hamlet said over the pasttwo weeks the level of big canals has been very low while ditches inrice fields have nearly dried up. Farmers have been unable to takeirrigation water into their rice fields.
"If this situation lasts for more than two weeks, the risk of losing rice will be unavoidable," he said.
Lam Van Vu, deputy head of the Long Phu district Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Bureau, said this year's saline intrusion had occurred amonth earlier compared to normal years.
Districtauthorities have prepared measures to maintain fresh water, but canalsare silted up and cannot store water, he said.
Last year, farmers had a bumper harvest for the spring-summer rice crop and earned high profits.
As a result, they decided to plant more spring-summer rice this year.Although the district targeted growing 7,000ha of spring-summer rice,farmers have sowed more than 13,000ha.
Thisexpansion of rice cultivation, along with fresh water shortage and earlysalinity intrusion, have worsened the shortage of irrigation water, Vusaid.
In Tien Giang province, salinity intrusionappeared 20 days early compared to last year, causing a shortage offresh water for nearly 30,000ha of rice in Go Cong Dong, Go Cong Tay andCho Gao districts.
Nguyen Thien Phap, head of the Tien GiangSub-department of Irrigation, said the province will try to protectthousands of hectares of rice in Go Cong fresh water zone.
Under the province's plan, farmers will begin harvesting rice in themiddle of this month. Local authorities have encouraged farmers tocomplete the harvest within two weeks.
The sub-department is monitoring the salt content of water to have prompt information for farmers, Phap said.
If the salt content of the water at the Xuan Hoa sluice gate, whichreceives fresh water for the Go Cong fresh water zone, exceeds 0.2percent in the next few days, Tien Giang will close the sluice gate andpump fresh water to rescue the rice.
Tien Giang alsoplans to invest 14 billion VND (660,000 USD) to upgrade water pipestransporting fresh water to Tan Phu Dong island district. This willserve 40,000 people.
In Tra Vinh province, a salt waterconcentration of 0.4 percent has entered 50 km inland, according to theprovincial Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.
The saltcontent of the water of the Hau River in Tra Vinh's Tieu Can districthas reached 1 percent compared to 0.77 percent in the same period lastyear. Tra Vinh has closed all saline-water prevention sluice gates.
TranQuang Cui, Deputy Director of Kien Giang province's Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development, said the province had harvested about110,000 ha of winter-spring rice and was speeding up harvesting theremaining 200,000ha by the end of this month to avoid saline intrusion.
About 65,000 ha of farmland in U Minh Thuong, VinhThuan, An Bien and An Minh districts have been affected by saline water.
To avoid losses, rice farmers in the districts have beenencouraged to switch to breeding shrimp and plant rice in June when therainy season comes, he said.-VNA
InSoc Trang province, saline intrusion has occurred most severely in LongPhu district's Long Phu, Tan Hung and Tan Thanh communes and Long Phutown. Many rice plants that are blooming are facing a severe shortage ofwater, Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper has reported.
FarmerLam Chien in Long Phu commune's Nuoc Man 2 hamlet said over the pasttwo weeks the level of big canals has been very low while ditches inrice fields have nearly dried up. Farmers have been unable to takeirrigation water into their rice fields.
"If this situation lasts for more than two weeks, the risk of losing rice will be unavoidable," he said.
Lam Van Vu, deputy head of the Long Phu district Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Bureau, said this year's saline intrusion had occurred amonth earlier compared to normal years.
Districtauthorities have prepared measures to maintain fresh water, but canalsare silted up and cannot store water, he said.
Last year, farmers had a bumper harvest for the spring-summer rice crop and earned high profits.
As a result, they decided to plant more spring-summer rice this year.Although the district targeted growing 7,000ha of spring-summer rice,farmers have sowed more than 13,000ha.
Thisexpansion of rice cultivation, along with fresh water shortage and earlysalinity intrusion, have worsened the shortage of irrigation water, Vusaid.
In Tien Giang province, salinity intrusionappeared 20 days early compared to last year, causing a shortage offresh water for nearly 30,000ha of rice in Go Cong Dong, Go Cong Tay andCho Gao districts.
Nguyen Thien Phap, head of the Tien GiangSub-department of Irrigation, said the province will try to protectthousands of hectares of rice in Go Cong fresh water zone.
Under the province's plan, farmers will begin harvesting rice in themiddle of this month. Local authorities have encouraged farmers tocomplete the harvest within two weeks.
The sub-department is monitoring the salt content of water to have prompt information for farmers, Phap said.
If the salt content of the water at the Xuan Hoa sluice gate, whichreceives fresh water for the Go Cong fresh water zone, exceeds 0.2percent in the next few days, Tien Giang will close the sluice gate andpump fresh water to rescue the rice.
Tien Giang alsoplans to invest 14 billion VND (660,000 USD) to upgrade water pipestransporting fresh water to Tan Phu Dong island district. This willserve 40,000 people.
In Tra Vinh province, a salt waterconcentration of 0.4 percent has entered 50 km inland, according to theprovincial Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.
The saltcontent of the water of the Hau River in Tra Vinh's Tieu Can districthas reached 1 percent compared to 0.77 percent in the same period lastyear. Tra Vinh has closed all saline-water prevention sluice gates.
TranQuang Cui, Deputy Director of Kien Giang province's Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development, said the province had harvested about110,000 ha of winter-spring rice and was speeding up harvesting theremaining 200,000ha by the end of this month to avoid saline intrusion.
About 65,000 ha of farmland in U Minh Thuong, VinhThuan, An Bien and An Minh districts have been affected by saline water.
To avoid losses, rice farmers in the districts have beenencouraged to switch to breeding shrimp and plant rice in June when therainy season comes, he said.-VNA
