The West is coping with the risk of a repeat of the 'historic drought and salinity'

Western localities are focusing on protecting millions of hectares of winter-spring rice crops, fruit trees... from the early onset of drought and salinity, which is as complicated as in 2016.

In late September, Mr. Nguyen Van Can, 50 years old, in Hoa Luu commune, Long My district, Hau Giang province, prepared to plant 3 hectares of winter-spring rice. "This land is at risk of salinity from the West Sea tide, plus the rainy season is forecast to end early, so people here take advantage of planting early in early October to ensure enough water for production and harvest when rice prices are high," said Mr. Can.

Farmers in Vi Thuy district, Hau Giang province take care of rice. Photo: Cuu Long

Hau Giang province has about 12,000 hectares of winter-spring rice that are likely to be affected by salinity from the West Sea tide, mainly in Long My district, Long My city, Vi Thanh city, and part of Vi Thuy district... More than 18,500 hectares of fruit trees are likely to be damaged by salinity from the East Sea tide, concentrated in Chau Thanh, Phung Hiep districts and Nga Bay city.

In addition, people in Long My, Vi Thuy, Phung Hiep districts, Long My town and Vi Thanh city are likely to lack domestic water. Therefore, local authorities are implementing response measures, ensuring production safety, and minimizing damage to people.

Meanwhile, these days, the family of Mr. Vo Van Duc (64 years old, Phu Duc commune, Chau Thanh district, Ben Tre province) regularly monitors information on rain and salinity forecasts to take care of the durian garden for more than 10 years on an area of ​​4,000 m2. During the 2019 salinity drought, Mr. Duc's family's durian garden lacked water, affecting productivity despite having a drilled well.

"Hearing the radio report that this year the salinity will last for a long time, my family has drilled another well to get fresh water. Plus, the Ba Lai River has completed a salinity prevention sluice system, so we feel secure," said Mr. Duc.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ben Tre province said that, learning from the two historic droughts in 2016 and 2019, 99% of households have equipped themselves with water storage tools for production and daily life such as digging ditches, building ponds, buying tarpaulin bags, etc.

Farmers in Chau Thanh, Ben Tre take care of durian gardens. Photo: Hoang Nam

Previously, management units and experts said that due to small floods, the rainy season ending early, and the prolonged El Nino phenomenon, the West was at risk of severe drought, similar to the 2015-2016 dry season, affecting people's lives. In the dry season 7 years ago, the prolonged drought caused 600,000 people here to lack domestic water and 160,000 hectares of land to become saline, causing damage of more than 5,500 billion VND.

In the 2023-2024 Winter-Spring rice crop, the Western region will sow 1.47 million hectares, with an estimated output of 10.6 million tons. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development assessed that 108,000 hectares of shrimp and rice production in the Ca Mau peninsula are likely to lack water. In the case of saline intrusion like in the 2015-2016 dry season, about 60,000 hectares of Winter-Spring rice and 43,000 hectares of fruit trees in Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, and Soc Trang are at risk of water shortage.

Mr. Tran Hoang Nhat Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tien Giang, said that the province will proactively implement drought and salinity prevention work early. Currently, the locality has constructed 6 sluices along the Tien River to ensure salinity prevention for the fruit growing areas in the western region. "As for the eastern part, the Go Cong freshwater area will apply measures to prevent salinity as far as possible, like every year by decanting or pumping in water to supplement it," said Mr. Nam.

In addition, Tien Giang is urgently constructing to complete the saltwater prevention sluice on Nguyen Tan Thanh canal (Chau Thanh district), located 420 m from Tien river. The project with a total investment of more than 518 billion VND, started in mid-November 2022, when completed, will prevent saltwater intrusion and provide domestic water and irrigation for 1.1 million people and 128,000 hectares of production land in the two provinces of Tien Giang and Long An.

The construction of a sluice gate to prevent saltwater intrusion in Nguyen Tan Thanh canal, Tien Giang, is under construction. Photo: Hoang Nam

Mr. Le Tu Do, Director of the Mekong Delta Branch of the Southern Irrigation Exploitation Company Limited, said that the unit is monitoring the salinity situation at locations inside and outside the Cai Lon - Cai Be sluice (Kien Giang). This is the largest irrigation project in the West with an investment capital of 3,300 billion VND, playing a role in controlling and regulating water for nearly 400,000 hectares of land in the Ca Mau peninsula.

"At the same time, we regularly connect with local authorities within the project area about production plans to have reasonable operation and regulation plans to ensure the highest efficiency," said Mr. Do.

An Binh - Hoang Nam

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