Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a conference to discuss solutions for natural disaster prevention in the North Central region.

Comrades: Nguyen Xuan Cuong - Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee chaired the conference. The conference was attended by leaders of the North Central provinces. Photo: Thanh Duy

CLIMATE CHANGE HAS VERY SEVERE IMPACT

Speaking at the opening of the Conference, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that the impacts of climate change are very severe, and even abnormal phenomena as a result of climate change are occurring faster than the latest scenarios predicted by the international community and Vietnam.

In particular, this year's weather has been extremely unusual, so we need to be even more vigilant. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has held and will hold conferences with key regions across the country to discuss solutions to respond to natural disasters, including today's conference in the North Central region.

According to the Minister, this is an area characterized by a dense density of rivers and streams, the most lakes in the country, including many small lakes; very steep and fragmented terrain; small, fragmented plains; the rainy season is concentrated in the last months of the year.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong delivered the opening speech at the Conference. Photo: Thanh Duy

Therefore, comrade Nguyen Xuan Cuong suggested that delegates focus on discussing solutions to cope with drought for the crop area, including about 26,000 hectares of rice that are suffering from drought, half of which is at risk of being lost if there is no rain for about a week; at the same time, discuss flood prevention work; and build fundamental solutions to adapt to climate change.

Speaking at the Conference, Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, gave some information about the situation of the province.

In the process of planning and implementing socio-economic development orientations, Nghe An province identifies the agricultural sector as a strength and key spearhead in economic development.

Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee delivered a welcome speech at the Conference. Photo: Thanh Duy

In particular, in the first 6 months of 2020, despite the huge impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the province's agriculture still developed with a growth rate of 4.98%, higher than last year. Agriculture has been the pillar of Nghe An's economy.

However, since the beginning of the year, weather developments have been very complex and unpredictable, affecting not only agricultural production but also threatening people's safety and lives.

Severe drought in Nghe An. Dried fish carcasses in the fields. Photo courtesy of Quang An

In the province alone, the total area of ​​crops affected by drought and water shortage is currently 13,591 hectares, of which the rice area is 10,583 hectares, of which about 4,500 hectares of rice are severely affected by drought.

To effectively cope with weather fluctuations and proactively prevent and combat natural disasters, right from the beginning of the year, Nghe An has paid special attention to and seriously implemented the motto: "Proactively prevent, promptly respond, urgently and effectively overcome, in which prevention is the main thing".

Delegates attending the Conference. Photo: Thanh Duy

Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy expressed his gratitude to Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and a number of ministries and branches for organizing and attending the Conference on drought response, water shortage, saltwater intrusion, and natural disaster prevention for the North Central region.

This demonstrates the timely, thorough and drastic response of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; at the same time, it creates more confidence for localities to be ready to respond to complex developments of weather and natural disasters.

"TURN DANGER INTO OPPORTUNITY"

The conference listened to reports from the National Center for Hydro-Meteorology; General Department of Irrigation; Department of Crop Production; General Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and representatives of provincial leaders... speaking about the hydro-meteorological situation, response solutions, operation of hydroelectric reservoirs and ensuring downstream safety;...

Attending the Conference, representing Nghe An province, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Nghia Hieu gave a speech on response to drought, water shortage, saltwater intrusion and natural disaster prevention in the province.

Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee Hoang Nghia Hieu speaks at the Conference. Photo: Thanh Duy

Accordingly, to combat drought, the province has directed the coordination with Ban Ve, Khe Bo, and Chi Khe hydropower plants to regulate reservoirs according to reservoir operation regulations to supply water to downstream areas, ensuring production and people's needs; directed water-saving irrigation, focused on directing rotational irrigation; installed small and field pumping stations; built soft and temporary dams; carried out propaganda work...

The Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee also presented solutions to direct the implementation of natural disaster prevention work with 13 specific solutions suitable to the characteristics, situation, people's lives, and production for 3 regions: coastal; midland, plain and highland areas.

After sharing experiences in natural disaster prevention and control, Nghe An also proposed some contents such as: requesting the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to propose to the Government to continue to have funding to support drought prevention as in previous years.

Comrade Mai Van Minh - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Binh province delivered a speech at the Conference. Photo: Thanh Duy

In the long term, support funding for the construction of drought-resistant works and the completion and upgrading of damaged and degraded irrigation reservoir systems;…

Nghe An also requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to request the Government to have a regulation to coordinate with the Lao Government on providing flood information between Laos and Vietnam, including Lao provinces that share a border with Nghe An.

In conclusion, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong requested the General Department of Irrigation to absorb the discussion opinions to complete the report on the results of the Conference and submit it to the Minister for signing and promulgation to send to the provinces in the region for research and application in disaster prevention work.

Specifically, regarding drought prevention, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasized that the cause of drought is due to lack of rain for a long time, the flow is depleted by 20-30%, hot weather, and lakes are facing water shortages.

To deal with this problem, the head of the agricultural sector requested the entire region to conduct careful research to effectively regulate the remaining water capacity in reservoirs; focus on forced pumping with all types of capacity to support 26,000 hectares of drought-affected rice; apply the rotational irrigation process.

For the summer-autumn crop, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong suggested thoroughly implementing the motto "green house is better than old field". In addition, the whole region still has 46,600 households lacking water, so it is necessary to implement water supply solutions so that no household lacks water for daily use.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the working delegation conducted a field survey of the Bara Do Luong dam headworks in Nghe An on the afternoon of July 21. Photo: Thanh Duy

In the long term, considering the complicated weather developments, the Minister noted that the provinces in the region need to review and restructure the agricultural sector in an adaptive manner, avoiding risks; paying close attention to the forest hydrological area because this is the area that generates, retains and retains water.

In addition, comrade Nguyen Xuan Cuong suggested reviewing all major infrastructure institutions, especially reservoirs; evaluating and recalculating plans to control water on rivers more effectively;...

The head of the agricultural sector also noted that provinces need to proactively respond to the flood situation. The spirit is to review everything, and the response plan must be truly practical.

Emphasizing that the issues of responding to natural disasters in the North Central region have been identified, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong requested that after the Conference, the provinces focus on organizing effective implementation, "turning danger into opportunity", minimizing damage. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will organize a delegation to inspect the implementation.