HO CHI MINH: Saltwater intrusion has affected many fruit growing areas in the Mekong Delta as farmers struggle to secure irrigation water for their orchards.
The saltwater intrusion could affect up to 130,000ha of the delta’s 300,000ha of fruit orchards in the 2019-2020 dry season.
Authorities said water with a salinity of 4g per litre is expected to enter 45km to 95km deep into the delta’s main rivers. It is the country’s largest fruit producing area and is facing the intrusion problem in the ongoing dry season, which has exceeded the record set during the 2015-2016 dry season.
Vietnam News Agency reported that in the Cho Lach district, saltwater was threatening 20,000ha of fruits and 1,300ha of plant seedlings, flowers and ornamental plants.
According to the district’s Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development head, Bui Thanh Liem, farmers have carried out measures, like closing sluices and building temporary dams using huge plastic bags to store irrigation water for fruit trees. They have also been using barges, boats and vehicles to bring water from other places to the district.
In Tien Giang, the delta’s largest fruit growing province, more than 36,000ha of fruits trees, including 12,000ha of durian trees, are facing a water shortage.
Many farmers in the area have to buy water at a high price to irrigate orchards, mostly for durian that has a high economic value.
To help durian farmers, authorities have hired barges to transport irrigation water and the supply will last until the end of next month. The authorities have also mobilised vehicles to transport water to fruit orchards.
Before the 2019-2020 dry season, authorities and farmers in the delta carried out measures to mitigate the impact of saltwater intrusion to rice, fruits and other crops, including changing rice farming schedules, building irrigation works and storing fresh water.
Under the instruction of the authorities, most farmers in the delta sowed the 2019-2020 winter/spring rice crop one month early. Therefore, they have nearly completed harvesting a bumper crop.
They are also earning higher income from selling rice straw leftover from the harvest. It can be used to grow mushroom and is in high demand to make cattle food, produce compost fertiliser and to cultivate the popular rice straw mushrooms.
Many farmers in the delta often burn rice straw after harvesting rice to clear the land for the next rice crop and it has been blamed for air pollution.