Building embankments to prevent saltwater in Tien Giang (Photo: VNA) Tien Giang (VNA) – Cai Lay district of the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has decided to spend 7.68 billion VND (over 326,000 USD) from the local budget on urgently building facilities to prevent saltwater from harming local fruit cultivation areas.
Vice Chairman of the district People’s Committee Ly Van Cam said the work will focus on dredging 20 fresh water storage canals, repairing 10 anti-saline intrusion culverts, and building 24 embankments to prevent saltwater.
These are expected to protect about 15,000 ha of land for cultivating fruit trees, he added.
The district authorities will regularly update saline intrusion and drought situations, thus recommending local farmers to take preventative measures.
Training courses will also be organized to introduce locals to fruit tree cultivation techniques during and after each drought and saline intrusion spell.
Attention has been paid to installing more salinity meters in communes with many fruit gardens, and appropriately building the operation schedule for culverts and embankments to regulate water, prevent saline intrusion, and collect fresh water.
According to director of the district’s agriculture and rural development office Tran Ly Ngu Binh, the locality has set up hundreds of salinity measurement points on the Tien River, its tributaries and canals.
Campaigns to popularise saltwater countermeasures to local farmers have been launched, he said./.
VNA
