Efforts to overcome the drought season

Many localities are implementing urgent solutions to "hold out" until the end of the 2024-2025 Winter-Spring crop, limiting damage to farmers.

In 2024, the entire Dak Lak province recorded a total rainfall of 1,623 mm, 10% lower than the average of many years. The situation became more tense when some areas such as Ea H'leo, Buon Don, and Krong Nang had a rainfall deficit of 20-40%. As of mid-April 2025, the average rainfall of the entire province was only 59.8 mm, 40-60% lower than the same period in many years, pushing the risk of drought higher. In particular, in areas dependent on the reservoir system, local water shortages have begun to have an impact.

Mr. Pham Quoc Tuan, Director of the Irrigation Branch of Ea Sup district, said that the unit is currently managing 7 reservoirs, with a total irrigation area of nearly 8,500 hectares, of which the upper Ea Sup reservoir ensures irrigation of 8,300 hectares.

The branch had to implement rotational irrigation from mid-March 2025 when the upper Ea Sup reservoir reached the alarming level. Up to now, the area in the irrigation area has not recorded any damage due to drought, but the risk of water shortage at the end of the season in the communes of Ya To Mot, Ia Rve and Ea Bung is very high.

More worryingly, by mid-April 2025, the upper Ea Sup lake had dropped 1.7 m below the dead water level, forcing the unit to consider using the reserve water source in the lower Ea Sup lake to irrigate once more if there is still no rain by the end of April 2025.

Thanks to proactive drought prevention solutions from the beginning of the season, many rice areas in Ea Sup district are being harvested early, avoiding the risk of drought at the end of the season.

Fortunately, at this time, in some fields of the Ea Sup border rice granary, farmers have begun to harvest early-ripening rice. Mr. Nguyen Tan Binh (Cu M'lan commune) breathed a sigh of relief because he had safely passed the dry season when his family's 1.5 hectares of ST25 rice had been harvested, reaching a yield of nearly 10 tons/ha. "Many late-season rice fields are very worried because of the lack of irrigation water to maintain until harvest. People are trying to save irrigation water and hope for early rain," said Mr. Binh.

Mr. Tran Van Van (village 1, Ea Bung commune) shared that since the beginning of the season, the irrigation branch and farmers have actively coordinated with each other to use water resources effectively, ensuring irrigation water until the end of the season. However, the upper Ea Sup lake has also dried up, many rice fields have not reached harvest time, so he is quite worried. Hopefully, the weather will not be too hot in the coming time or there will be enough rain for the fields to wait until harvest.

Faced with water resource challenges, Dak Lak's agricultural sector has proactively implemented many response measures.

Mr. Trinh Quoc Bao, Director of Dak Lak Irrigation Works Management Company Limited, said that from the beginning of the season, the company proactively reviewed and inspected the water source situation and irrigation area of each project to develop a plan to prevent and combat drought.

At the same time, coordinate with local authorities to advance crop schedules in areas at risk of water shortages, and resolutely reduce irrigation areas in projects that do not ensure supply such as Ea Nong Lake (Vu Bon Commune, Krong Pac District).

In addition, the company has also directed branches to arrange for people to be on duty at the construction site during the time of opening the sluice gates for irrigation, to water economically, and to regulate water properly from the beginning of the season, to avoid water loss.

Upper Ea Sup Lake is now dry to the bottom.

However, Mr. Bao also expressed concern about the long-term situation when 32 reservoirs have run out of water, with the upper Ea Sup reservoir alone having dropped very low; in the northern areas of the province, people are having to use well water to irrigate coffee because small reservoirs have run out of water.

“Up to now, the company has been implementing drought prevention for 7 projects, with a total area of over 1,000 hectares. Currently, the company is also continuing to closely monitor the weather and water resources at the projects to provide timely instructions for irrigation services for the 2024-2025 Winter-Spring crop and have a plan to serve farmers' production with the best efficiency,” said Mr. Bao.

According to data from the Department of Agriculture and Environment, Dak Lak currently has 69,360 hectares of short-term crops for the 2024-2025 Winter-Spring crop and 373,772 hectares of perennial crops.

In the context of increasing demand for irrigation water for crops in the dry season, the Department has requested localities to proactively make appropriate adjustments when water sources are in short supply to ensure adequate supply for essential needs (living, livestock, perennial crops, etc.) and agricultural production for the entire dry season of 2024 - 2025.

At the same time, increase dredging of water intakes and canal systems, raise spillway thresholds with sandbags; implement advanced irrigation solutions to save water for rice and upland crops, ensuring minimum water needs are met during water-sensitive periods of crops, especially fruit trees and crops of high economic value.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/tin-noi-bat/202504/no-luc-vuot-qua-mua-kho-han-42c1afb/