Drought has affected more than 1,300ha of rice fields in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, with 200ha turning completely dry.
The province’s An Bien district has received no rain for nearly two months, badly affecting the winter-spring crop in Nam Yen, Dong Thai and Thu Ba communes.
“I has to pump underground water into reservoirs to water the rice every day,” said farmer Le Van Ut of Nam Yen commune. Ut said the pumping has cost him 4 million VND (213 USD) in two months.
Ut’s neighbour Phan Hoai Bao said he has to pump water by hand. “My concern is that my family won’t have enough rice to eat after the crop,” he said.
The absence of rains has also hit An Minh, U Minh Thuong and Vinh Thuan districts in the province, allowing increased salination in coastal areas.
Nguyen Huu Hoa, head of An Bien district’s Agriculture and Rural Development Division, said his office is supporting farmers in making use of every water source. He advised farmers to use fertiliser sprays on the rice plants in order to enable their roots to go deeper for water, instead of the use of scattered fertilisers on soil.
However, he conceded that this could not be a long-term solution. He said there was a need to upgrade irrigations systems, build dykes to prevent salination, and/or change cropping mechanisms at a time climate change is increasingly impacting coastal communes./.
The province’s An Bien district has received no rain for nearly two months, badly affecting the winter-spring crop in Nam Yen, Dong Thai and Thu Ba communes.
“I has to pump underground water into reservoirs to water the rice every day,” said farmer Le Van Ut of Nam Yen commune. Ut said the pumping has cost him 4 million VND (213 USD) in two months.
Ut’s neighbour Phan Hoai Bao said he has to pump water by hand. “My concern is that my family won’t have enough rice to eat after the crop,” he said.
The absence of rains has also hit An Minh, U Minh Thuong and Vinh Thuan districts in the province, allowing increased salination in coastal areas.
Nguyen Huu Hoa, head of An Bien district’s Agriculture and Rural Development Division, said his office is supporting farmers in making use of every water source. He advised farmers to use fertiliser sprays on the rice plants in order to enable their roots to go deeper for water, instead of the use of scattered fertilisers on soil.
However, he conceded that this could not be a long-term solution. He said there was a need to upgrade irrigations systems, build dykes to prevent salination, and/or change cropping mechanisms at a time climate change is increasingly impacting coastal communes./.
