In their fight against drought and saline intrusion, farmers in Tieu Can district of Tra Vinh province have contributed their own money to build canals and ditches. (Photo: tinmoitruong.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - In their fight against drought and saline intrusion, farmers in Tieu Can district in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh have contributed their own money to build canals and ditches.
Each household in Trung Hieu hamlet of Tan Hung commune contributes about 70,000 VND (3 USD) per every 1,000sq.m in order to hire people to pump water. The water is pumped from a big river named Can Chong to canals and ditches in the interior field. From there, the farmers pump water to their own paddy fields, said Truong Van Giang, head of Trung Hieu hamlet.
“Up to 30ha of rice in the hamlet have been saved,” he said.
Other communes in the region, such as Tap Ngai, Ngai Hung and Tan Hoa, also apply the model.
“About 1,669ha out of the 2,369ha of rice in Tieu Can district that are at risk of being hit by saline intrusion have been saved,” Tran Van Quan, deputy head of the district’s agriculture department, said while talking about the model’s efficiency.
In addition to farmers’ initiatives, the local agriculture sector has spent billions of Vietnamese dong on dredging canals and ditches. The sector has also sent officers to check the salt levels of fields and assess the destruction caused by saline intrusion in order to provide adequate assistance in the future, he said.
So far, a total of 11 provinces in the Mekong Delta and Central Highland regions, including Tra Vinh, have announced a state of emergency due to the drought and saline intrusion. More than 11,000ha of crops were destroyed in Tra Vinh province.-VNA
