Nearly 600 hectares of summer-autumn rice crops are at risk of dying due to dry, cracked soil.

For several days now, there has been no rain in Do Luong district, causing many fields to dry up and crack, with insufficient water for agricultural production.

This year, during the summer-autumn crop season, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong from Hamlet 4, Da Son Commune, cultivated 7 sao (approximately 0.7 hectares) of rice fields. However, to date, she has been unable to weed or replant because there is no water.

Hundreds of hectares of rice fields in Do Luong district lack water for replanting. Photo: Thuy Hang

Sharing the same concern, the family of Ms. Dam Thi Tam in Quyet Thang hamlet, Giang Son Tay commune, is also anxious because the rice crop is ready for thinning, but there is no water yet. Many large cracks have appeared in the fields, and even many rice plants show signs of drying out and burning.

Giang Son Tay commune is a remote and disadvantaged area in Do Luong district. This year, the commune planted 136.8 hectares of rice during the summer-autumn crop season; however, to date, 50 hectares of rice fields still lack water. Mr. Dang Xuan Quang, Chairman of the People's Committee of Giang Son Tay commune, said: "The prolonged heatwave has caused eight large and small reservoirs and dams serving agriculture to almost dry up, making drought relief efforts in the commune difficult."

The communes of Mỹ Sơn, Giang Sơn Đông, and Giang Sơn Tây (Đô Lương district) are experiencing severe drought. Photo: Thúy Hằng

In the 2019 summer-autumn crop season, Do Luong district planted over 7,000 hectares of rice. Currently, many communes are still facing difficulties in drought prevention efforts, such as My Son, Giang Son Dong, Giang Son Tay, Bai Son, and Dai Son.

Currently, 560 hectares of summer-autumn rice crops in 13 communes of Do Luong district are severely affected by drought. Meanwhile, water reserves in reservoirs and dams have almost completely dried up by June 18th. 43 out of 79 reservoirs and dams have less than 30% of their water capacity remaining, and 23 dams have completely dried up. The drought is partly due to prolonged hot weather and partly due to the reservoirs being old and not regularly dredged, resulting in a large amount of silt and sediment, and low water reserves.

Many lakes and dams in Do Luong district have very little water left, insufficient to irrigate the summer-autumn rice crop. In the photo: Dong Thieng dam in Giang Son Tay commune at dead water level. Photo: Thuy Hang