A saltwater prevention sluice in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre. (Photo: VNA)The fruit areas are in Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Vinh Long and Soc Trang provinces,while the rice areas are in Tra Vinh province.
The level of saltwater intrusion in the ongoing 2020 - 21 dry season is higherthan average, but lower than the dry season in 2015 and 2020.
Saltwater intrusion from sea through river mouths began occurring at thedelta’s main rivers on January 24, nearly one month earlier than the average ofmany years.
Before the beginning of the 2020 – 21 dry season, local authorities in thedelta took various measures to protect agricultural production and householdsfrom saltwater intrusion.
The measures include building and upgrading irrigation works, dredgingirrigation canals, and restructuring crop cultivating schedules.
Seawater with a salinity rate of four grammes per litre is expected to enter 50– 85 kilometres deep into the mouths of the delta’s main rivers this month.
At the Ham Luong River, for instance, saltwater intrusion will enter 65 - 70kilometres deep into the river mouth.
Most crops can only tolerate a salinity rate of up to one gramme per litre.
Saltwater intrusion will gradually fall in April and May, according to theIrrigation Department.
The high level of saltwater occurs during high tides when seawater rises andenters deep into river mouths.
In previous high tides this year, saltwater entered deep into river mouths onJanuary 10 – 14, January 24 – 30, February 12 – 16 and February 24 – March 2.
The delta had heavy rains in January and February, but local farmers storedirrigation water in their orchard ditches, so the orchards and daily-use waterhave not been affected.
Farmers in the delta, the country’s rice granary, have harvested 400,000ha of1.51 million hectares of the ongoing 2020 - 21 winter - spring rice. The winter- spring rice was sown earlier than normal to avoid a shortage of irrigationwater at the end of the crop.
To secure irrigation water for the upcoming summer – autumn rice crop, theIrrigation Department has told localities to only grow crops in areas that haveenough irrigation water. If they do not have enough, farmers should only startgrowing a new rice crop when the rainy season starts, it said./.
VNA
