Farmland dries up in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – TheMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has recently proposed anaid package worth 515.3 billion VND (22 million USD) to deal with drought and saltwater intrusion in 2020.
This forms part of activities to implement Directive No. 04/CT-TTG dated January 22, 2020 bythe Prime Minister on measures to mitigate drought, water shortagesand saltwater intrusion.
The aid package aims to help carryout urgent solutions to prevent and cope with drought, water scarcity andsaltwater intrusion like pumping water, dredging canals, maintainingirrigation works, building temporary embankments to retain freshwater,digging ponds and wells, extending the water pipeline network, purchasingequipment for water filtration and storage, and delivering water to residentialareas, hospitals and schools facing water shortages.
Due to the lack of rain in2019, most irrigation reservoirs nationwide are only between 50 – 80 percent capacity.The reservoir at the upper source of the Hong River in Thai Binh is around 60percent full, while Hoa Binh Lake is at 63 percent, the lowest in the past 30years.
Those in the central region areonly 15-30 percent full. The water level in the Mekong River is lower than in 2015-2016, which recorded the worst salinity.
According the MARD, solutionsto prevent drought, saltwater intrusion have been proven effective. Though theMekong Delta region suffered more severe salinity than in 2015-2016, only 49,800 hectares ofrice crops in 2019-2020 were damaged, accounting for 1.81 percent of the whole region. At the peak, around 96,000households lacked clean water, compared with 114,000 households in 2015-2016.
All rice crops in the CentralHighland region and the northern region receive water from irrigationreservoirs with a combined capacity of 2.68 billion cubic metres.
Drought and water shortages arepredicted to continue until May in the Central Highlands, and August in the central region.
Previously, an aid package of530 billion VND (over 22.7 million USD) was approved by Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc to help eight provinces in the Mekong Delta deal with drought, waterscarcity and saltwater intrusion, which have been taking a heavy toll on thecountry’s agricultural production hub./.
