People in Phuoc Nam commune of Thuan Nam district receive rice from the national reserve (Photo: VNA) Ninh Thuan (VNA) - More than 954 tonnes of rice from the national reserve were sent to the south-central province of Ninh Thuan on October 13 and 14 to assist local people in drought-plagued areas.
According to Ha Anh Quang, director of the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, authorities in these areas - Thuan Bac, Ninh Son, Ninh Hai, Ninh Phuoc, Thuan Nam, and Bac Ai districts - have been asked to prepare plans for receiving and distributing the aid in line with regulations.
A total of 15,002 households with 63,634 members in these districts are set to receive 15 kg of rice per person each month. Beneficiaries are poor or near-poor and work in agricultural production, or are classified as among the most vulnerable groups in the community.
Bac Ai and Thuan Nam districts together have the highest number of families set to receive the aid, at 9,343 in total.
Recipients in Thuan Nam’s Phuoc Nam commune said prolonged drought over the past two years has left them without water for cultivation and forced them to abandon most of their arable land.
The province also experienced a historic drought between last November and May this year.
As of May 24, the total volume of water in 21 lakes in the province accounted for just over 12 percent of designed capacity. Seventeen lakes were totally empty, and local people had to abandon this year’s summer-autumn crop on more than 15,300 ha of land, losing 10,800ha of rice and 4,500 ha of vegetables./.
VNA
