Hung Nguyen District Party Secretary: 'Racing against water to save the sown rice area'

(Baonghean.vn) - Currently, in Hung Nguyen district, drought prevention work is taking place fiercely, the whole district has nearly 900 hectares of rice land without water for production. In addition, out of 4,100 hectares that have been planted, up to 3,000 hectares are at risk of burning. Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with comrade Hoang Van Phi - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Executive Committee about the direction of the Party Committee in drought prevention work.

Reporter: Sir, it is known that Hung Nguyen is an area that often experiences drought during the hot season. So, to minimize the damage caused by the heat, what plans has the locality made to combat drought?

Reporter talked with comrade Hoang Van Phi - Member of the Provincial Party Committee - Secretary of Hung Nguyen District Party Committee.

Comrade Hoang Van Phi - District Party Secretary:Learning from last year's experience, this year we made a plan from the beginning of April. With the motto of preparing the land and planting seedlings as soon as we harvest, we also bring water to start sowing right away.

At the same time, the District Chairman and the Head of the specialized department together with the high-level Party Committee and authorities of the commune must immediately establish a drought prevention committee to promptly respond and help people fight drought.

Option 1: if water is scarce we will only produce 4500 ha. Option 2: if water is sufficient we will produce 5000 ha.

If we follow option 1, we currently have only 400 hectares without water for production, scattered in the communes of Hung My, Hung Yen Nam, Hung Yen Bac, Hung Trung and the Town. If we follow option 2, we have 900 hectares left.

PV:With such initiative, the drought situation is still serious. What do you think is the cause?

Comrade Hoang Van Phi - District Party Secretary:From lack of water source only! Now we are rationing water resources like rice to save the hungry.

Because Hung Nguyen mainly uses water from Ba Ra Nam Dan. But after 13 hours the water just rises and can only be pumped for a few hours, unable to distribute enough water to nourish more than 3000 hectares of planted land.

Some rice-rice fields are at risk of being burned. Photo taken in hamlet 8, Hung My commune.

Besides, we also used local solutions such as mobilizing pumps of the cooperative to create water from Lam River to Hung Linh, Hung Dao, Hung Xa, Hung Thong, but we could only pump at certain times because the water source here is mainly salty.

Furthermore, although the early season sun was not as fierce as in 2015 and the temperature was not as high as last year, due to the delay in the spring crop, the water pumping schedule was pushed back.

By June 10, water sources on rivers had dried up to the same level as the 2015 drought, leading to many communes having no water for production.

District agricultural officials and localities with severe drought are working day and night to regulate water, increase pumping to dredge the water source (water source is discharged into irrigation canals after there is enough water to nourish rice seedlings).

PV:So what is the district's upcoming solution, comrade?

Comrade Hoang Van Phi - District Party Secretary:Although the proactive drought prevention work has been carefully prepared and the entire political system from district to commune and hamlet has participated, the drought is still quite complicated. In some places, water fighting between hamlets and communes has even occurred.

Currently, many areas in Hung My, Hung Yen Nam, Hung Yen Bac, and the Town do not have water for production. Many areas (accounting for 600-700 hectares) such as Hung Loi, Hung Phuc, and Hung Thang that have been planted are now in a state of dryness, cracking, withered rice, and at risk of burning.

Moreover, the leaf roller epidemic is currently serious and this epidemic can cause all cultivated areas to be lost. The cause of the epidemic is a serious lack of water. Therefore, the most urgent need is to have water immediately.

There are up to 900 hectares without water for production, concentrated in the outer areas of the district.

So our first solution is still to propose to the Nam Thuy Nong company to concentrate water for Hung Nguyen.

On the one hand, when water comes, it is necessary to regulate so that areas that have been planted but are at risk of being burned must have water immediately. Then, the district and commune need to coordinate to monitor so that water is distributed evenly to neighboring areas, avoiding the situation where people build dikes to store water, causing serious shortages in other areas.

PV:So how will the district direct the areas that have not been cultivated?

Comrade Hoang Van Phi - District Party Secretary:The district's direction is still to save the sown area. If any area has not been sown, wait until the beginning of autumn when it rains to sow short-term varieties. Along with that is a mechanism to support new varieties (short-term varieties) for people in areas severely affected by drought.

If there is still no rain by then, some areas in the lowlands will not be planted anymore because the crop will fall into the flood season. Some areas in the highlands will be directed to switch to corn cultivation.

Currently, the task of saving rice from drought is still the number one political task of Hung Nguyen district. Because rice is the main crop of the district, if the crop fails, there will be a risk of famine in some areas.

Thanh Nga