Dak Nong is busy coping with drought.

People are proactive.

These days, Mr. Ma Thong and his wife, in Sar Pa hamlet, Thuan An commune, Dak Mil district ( Dak Nong ) are busy with drought prevention work. He constantly visits the fields and today, he prepares water hoses, nozzles, and buys oil to water his family's coffee garden.

Mr. Ma Thong, in Bon Sar Pa, Thuan An Commune, Dak Mil District (Dak Nong) is busy with drought prevention work.

With 800 coffee trees, Mr. Thong has proactively dug a reservoir of nearly 1,000 square meters at the foot of the field to ensure a source of irrigation water. He said that his family is currently watering the second batch and the reservoir still has enough water to irrigate the coffee trees against drought.

At Dak Ken dam area, drought prevention is also taking place urgently. Nearly 20 pumps located along the bank are operating continuously to pump water to irrigate drought-resistant crops in the surrounding area.

Under the harsh sunlight of the dry season, Mr. Tran Hong, in village 7, Dak Lao commune, Dak Mil district, is busy with drought prevention work to protect crops.

Mr. Hong has a farm with more than 2,500 coffee trees. Currently, he is watering his coffee trees with water from Dak Ken dam. The buried pipeline system, about 2km long from the dam to the farm, helps him to be proactive and convenient in watering his plants during the dry season.

Mr. Ngo Xuan Hai, in Dak Thuy village, Dak Lao commune, Dak Mil district, has 4 hectares of intercropped crops including coffee and durian.

Not only coffee, other crops are also being seriously affected by the prolonged heat. Mr. Ngo Xuan Hai, in Dak Thuy village, Dak Lao commune, Dak Mil district (Dak Nong) said that his family has 4 hectares of coffee and durian. Mr. Hai is also watering the plants for the third time.

Currently, Dak Mil district is entering the peak of the dry season in 2025. People's water demand is increasing while the capacity of reservoirs is decreasing sharply.

In particular, at lakes 35 and 40 in Dak Lao commune, the water has completely dried up. Currently, these lakes are being pumped with transit water so that people have enough water to irrigate their crops.

Dak Ken Dam in Dak Lao Commune, Dak Mil District is pumped to provide enough water for people to irrigate their crops.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dak Mil district, said that if the hot weather continues until the end of April and the beginning of May, the district will face a serious water shortage.

Communes such as Dak Lao, Duc Manh, Dak Gan, Dak N'Drot, Dak R'la of Dak Mil district are areas at high risk of drought. Accordingly, about 1,500 hectares of crops will be severely lacking water, at the same time, about 150 households will also face a shortage of domestic water.

Deploying urgent solutions against drought

Faced with the above situation, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dak Mil district has closely coordinated with the People's Committees of communes and towns, as well as units managing and exploiting irrigation works to monitor, inspect and propose drought prevention plans suitable for each area. These plans aim to minimize damage caused by drought, helping people protect their crops.

Dak Mil, the key coffee production area of ​​Dak Nong province, is lacking irrigation water.

Specifically, Dak Nong Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited - Dak Mil Branch has increased inspection and reasonable regulation of water resources. Key reservoirs such as Dak Ken Lake, Doi 35 Lake, Lake 40, and Buon Xe Ry Stream are being prioritized for pumping water from neighboring reservoirs.

In addition, dredging canals, repairing pumping systems, and building spillways to retain water are also being carried out synchronously by the branch and local authorities.

To proactively respond to drought, the People's Committees of communes and towns in Dak Mil are urgently inspecting and developing plans to prevent and combat drought in the area based on each specific time.

At the same time, propaganda work on using water economically and effectively is promoted by the district and authorities to raise people's awareness.

In Krong No district, some areas with long-term industrial crops, especially along Dak Sor stream, are starting to experience a shortage of irrigation water. If the dry weather continues, the risk of drought will threaten about 1,000 hectares of crops in Nam Xuan, Nam Nung, Nam N'dir, Dak D'ro and Tan Thanh communes.

Dak Nong people are in need of a large source of water to irrigate crops (Photo: Le Phuoc)

According to Mr. Doan Gia Loc, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Krong No district, the district has proactively disseminated to people about weather developments and measures to use water economically.

In addition, local authorities are also updating and evaluating water sources from rivers, streams, lakes, and dams to delineate areas at risk of drought in order to have appropriate water regulation plans.

Dak Nong is entering the peak of the dry season. The average temperature this year is forecast to range from 15 - 34 degrees Celsius, humidity from 70 - 78%, and the flow of rivers and streams continues to decrease sharply.

Many small rivers and streams have almost dried up, and irrigation reservoirs have also significantly reduced their reserves. Although there have been scattered light rains in some areas of the province, the amount of rain is insignificant and has not been able to resolve the drought situation.

Transfer pumps to supply water to depleted lakes are being deployed by authorities to cope with local water shortages in Dak Mil district (Dak Nong).

According to Mr. Vo Van Minh, Deputy Director of Dak Nong Department of Agriculture and Environment, by the end of March 2025, the drought had begun to seriously affect thousands of hectares of crops, mainly coffee, pepper and fruit trees.

Faced with this situation, from March 14, 2025, the authorities have begun to regulate water in some areas to combat drought. Specifically, water is transferred from West Lake, Dak Sak Lake, Bac Son 1 Lake, Dak Son 3 Lake, Dak Mol Lake to supplement the Dak Mil and Krong No areas.

The work of pumping water from Team 1 Lake to Lake 40 and Lake 35 in Dak Mil has been deployed to ensure water source for this year's winter-spring crop.

Dak Nong Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited pumps water from West Lake to reservoirs that have run out of water in Dak Mil (Photo: Le Phuoc)

In addition, raising the spillway thresholds at 39 small reservoirs and providing materials to build temporary dams at 46 locations on streams are also being carried out to maximize the use of water resources. These are important solutions to ensure that crops are not seriously affected by drought.

In addition to construction solutions, according to Mr. Vo Van Minh, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dak Nong, it is necessary to disseminate to people about the situation, weather developments, and risks of water shortages for production and people's lives so that people know, share and proactively implement measures to save water and fight drought.

"With the initiative from the people and the drastic participation of the authorities, Dak Nong is making efforts to cope with drought, protect crops, and minimize damage," Mr. Minh shared.

In the dry season of 2024, Dak Nong had about 12,239 hectares of crops affected by drought, including coffee, pepper, fruit trees and some short-term agricultural crops. Most of these crop areas had reduced productivity and crop failure.

Source: https://baodaknong.vn/dak-nong-tat-bat-ung-pho-voi-kho-han-248611.html