A farmer on the rice field that dried out due to drought in Chu Pah district, Gia Lai province. (Photo: VNA)Gia Lai (VNA) – Drought has caused food shortages to nearly 14,000 households in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai in the current between-crop period, about 85 percent of whom are from local ethnic minority groups.
According to the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, drought has badly affected local agricultural production, damaging thousands of hectares of winter-autumn rice.
In response to the food crisis, the provincial People’s Committee has urged communal and district authorities to promptly secure food supplies for affected people.
La Pa, Chu Puh, Phu Thien and Ayunpa districts have distributed a total of 240 tonnes of rice to approximately 1,900 local households in urgent need.
The government plans to provide Gia Lai with 500 tonnes of rice to help the locality ease the situation, while the province will distribute more than 1,500 tonnes of rice to 12,500 households, who are likely to suffer food shortages in the coming months.-VNA
