The Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection of Kien Giang Province on November 13 said that farmers in Tan Hiep, Chau Thanh, Giong Rieng, Go Quao and Hon Dat districts have sowed around 52,600 hectares out of 289,000 hectares of winter-spring rice crop, accounting for 18.2 percent of the plan.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development yesterday announced more than 12,593 hectare of infertile paddies in the Mekong delta has been converted to grow fruits to earn good income from the beginning of the year.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development yesterday launched the first phase of Cai Lon-Cai Be irrigation project which is expected to solve problems relating to saltwater for the Mekong delta provinces of Kien Giang, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu.
According to a report from the National Hydrology Meteorology Forecast Center about this year’s dry season forecast, the Southern and Central Highlands regions will suffer drought and saltwater influx on the large scale in the forthcoming months after the recent record-breaking rainfalls.
The country has mobilized nearly VND70 trillion (US$3 billion) to build irrigation construction in countryside districts for 10 years, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at a yesterday meeting to review 10-year implementation of irrigation works in the government’s new rural plan.
The People’s Committee of the Mekong delta province of Ben Tre today inaugurated a VND85 billion ($3.6 million) freshwater reservoir in Ba Tri District.
After provinces in the North Central Coast, some provinces in the South Central Coast have been seriously affected by drought drying up rivers and ponds, causing paddy fields to be fallowed and upseting the life of local people. This is considered as one of the most severe droughts in many decades.
Natural disasters had caused damages of up to VND20 trillion ($859.7 million) in 2018, said Mr. Nguyen Hiep who is deputy head of the Disaster Response and Consequence Management Bureau.
Breeders in the Mekong Delta have suffered heavy losses from massive shrimp die-offs due to white spot disease while scientists are finding treatment to help farmers to minimize the loss.
The People’s Committee of Quang Ngai province yesterday applied to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance for supporting VND 90 billion to battle drought and saltwater intrusion prepared for harvesting the spring-winter rice crop.
