Vietnam Mekong Delta Takes Proactive Measures to Cope with Saltwater Intrusion, Drought
Vietnam’s local authorities in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta are taking proactive measures to cope with saltwater intrusion and drought in the 2023-2024 dry season.
The delta, which is the country’s largest producer of rice, fruit and seafood, is forecast to face saltwater intrusion between January and March next year.
Saltwater with salinity of 4 grams per liter is estimated to enter 50-60km into river mouths during the period.
Most plants can only tolerate salinity of 1 gram per liter.
The water of the Mekong River flowing into the delta in the dry season is estimated to be 5%-10% lower than the average of many years.
Saltwater intrusion and drought will affect about 43,300ha of fruits and 50,000ha of the upcoming winter-spring rice, according to the Directorate of Water Resources.
The rice and fruit areas are located in Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh and Soc Trang provinces.
The delta, which comprises Can Tho City and 12 provinces, plans to grow about 1.5 million hectares of winter-spring rice, up 22,000ha from last year.
Winter-spring rice is the delta’s main rice crop of the year.
Nguyen Van Man, director of the Tien Giang Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province planned to grow 44,760ha of winter-spring rice and was taking measures to cope with saltwater intrusion and drought to secure a good harvest for farmers.
The province had scheduled to sow the rice crop between November 10 and the end of this year depending on conditions of each locality, he said.
To serve agricultural production and prevent saltwater intrusion, Tien Giang had tightened checking saltwater prevention sluices and embankments and encouraged farmers to store fresh water for irrigation, he said.
Tien Giang, which is the country’s largest fruit producer, is building six sluices and embankments along the Tien River, a tributary of the Mekong River, to prevent saltwater intrusion and store fresh water for agricultural production.
When saltwater intrusion increases during the winter-spring rice crop, the province will close three saltwater prevention sluices at Tra Tan, Ba Ray, and Phu An estuaries.
Local authorities in the delta have tightened monitoring saltwater intrusion to inform the public to take prevention measures.
They have encouraged households to store rain water and fresh water to serve household use and agricultural production in the dry season.
In Tra Vinh Province, its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has encouraged farmers to apply advanced farming techniques, switch to grow suitable crops and sow winter-spring rice following guided schedules in each locality.
The department has asked localities to complete building irrigation projects on schedule this year, including building 380 in-field irrigation projects.
It has instructed local Bureaus of Agriculture and Rural Development in co-operation with the province’s Irrigation Work Exploitation and Management One Member Ltd. Co to check and operate sluices properly to store fresh water for rice, fruit and other crops.
Located between the Tien and Hau rivers, two tributaries of the Mekong River, and bordering the sea, Tra Vinh is one of the delta’s provinces which are hardest hit by saltwater intrusion.
Neighboring Tra Vinh, Ben Tre Province is also taking prevention measures such as digging ponds and using huge plastic bags and other water containers to store fresh water.
Huynh Quang Duc, deputy director of the Ben Tre Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province was boosting the construction of saltwater prevention projects and planned to build temporary dams to secure fresh water for household use and agricultural production.
The department had instructed farmers on measures to protect crops, including not letting trees have fruits during saltwater intrusion and drought periods, pruning branches and keeping soil moist to protect them, he said.