About 31,000 hectares of crops in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, including 6,000 hectares of rice and 23,000 hectares of coffee, are suffering from the effects of a prolonged drought.

According to the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the damage was estimated at 980 billion VND (46 million USD) with the most affected areas in the Krong Nang, Krong Buk, Ea Kar, M’Drak, Krong Bong, and Buon Ho districts.

The situation is expected to worsen as the drought continues, affecting up to 40,000 hectares of crops through the end of April.

To cope with the drought, provincial leaders asked local authorities to guide community members to dredge ponds and reservoirs and free the flow of streams to make full use of water resources.

The province also directed competent sectors to apply rotational water supply for areas, with priority given to people’s daily use, animal husbandry, perennial industrial crops such as coffee and pepper.

The lack of water has not only affected agricultural production but also the daily lives of thousands of households in the province.

According to the Dak Lak Water Supply and Construction JSC, the company runs about 10,000 cubic metres short each day, meeting only 75-80 percent of local demand for clean water.-VNA