The Vietnamese government will provide its rice granary, the Mekong Delta region, with VND220 billion ($11.5 million) next month to water summer-autumn paddies, the Nong Nghiep Viet Nam newspaper reported. Pham Van Du, deputy head of the Department of Cultivation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced the fund whiling visiting the region where saline intrusion has penetrated into 40-60km. The department estimated that around 120,000 hectares of summer-autumn paddies will face water shortage late this month, calling on local provinces to seek ways to water other 600,000 hectares late next month. Currently, saline intrusion has affected 620,000 hectares of winter-spring paddy, or 40% of total un-harvested area while drought has affected 87,000 hectares of summer-autumn paddy. The Mekong Delta region will cultivate around 1.6 million hectares of summer-autumn rice within Apr and May. Last year, the region harvested 7.75 million tons of summer-autumn rice.
