Vietnamplus

ASEAN-member countries have vowed to take immediate action to resolve problems caused by worsening drought in Southeast Asia, especially in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region, which is especially susceptible to global warming.

Authorities in provinces in the Mekong Delta and Can Tho city are dredging irrigation works and storing fresh water to cope with saltwater intrusion during the dry season.

A delegation of the General Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had a working visit to Japan from November 30 – December 4 to learn the host country’s experiences in coping with super Typhoon Hagibis, especially in the dyke management.

The Lower Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam are likely to face severe droughts that hurt cultivation and agricultural production by January 2020.

Typhoon Nakri, the sixth tropical storm forecast to hit Vietnam this year, is likely to bring heavy rain to central and south-central regions.

The south-central province of Ninh Thuan, the country’s largest grape producer, is expanding cultivation of high-quality foreign grape varieties.

The Vietnam Embassy in Japan has stepped up citizen protection work as Typhoon Hagibis hit the country on October 12 causing extensive damage.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on September 30 held an urgent video-conference with leaders of 16 provinces and related ministries after PM2.5 air pollution exceeded the safe level in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.

Vietnam Electricity's (EVN) long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating stands at 'BB' with a positive outlook, according to Fitch Ratings.

The rapid development of greenhouses for vegetable and flower cultivation in the last two decades has had a negative effect on the environment in the central resort city of Da Lat.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has warned that northern localities are facing water shortages as reservoirs are drying up.

Meteorologists are debating the cause of the thick fog that has blanketed HCM City and some southern provinces in recent days, which has triggered concerns of residents about worsening air quality.

The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap plans to release floodwaters into 90,200ha of rice fields in this year’s rainy season to fertilise the soil and flush away rice disease pathogens.

Immediate measures and long-term plans should be implemented quickly to help provinces in the Mekong Delta cope with drought and saline intrusion, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh has said.

Farmers in the Mekong Delta are taking measures to adapt to low levels of flooding this year by switching to new crops and using other cultivation methods.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has decided to provide 2,000 tonnes of rice from the national reserve as food aid to residents in the central provinces of Quang Binh and Ha Tinh who suffered from serious flooding.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked central localities and natural disaster prevention and response forces as well as the whole community to focus on overcoming consequences of recent flooding, and ensuring safety for students as the new academic year has started.

Authorities at all levels in Cambodia have been ordered to prepare for Mekong flooding that is forecast to hit some provinces in the coming days.

The Mekong Delta, the country’s rice granary, will see summer – autumn rice output increase by 150,000 tonnes this year, the Plant Cultivation Department has estimated.

This summer-autumn crop, the Mekong Delta – Vietnam’s biggest rice granary – expects to harvest 150,000 tonnes of paddy more than last year, according to an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).