Hung Nguyen: 3,000 hectares of rice fields affected by drought.

(Baonghean.vn) - Currently, more than 5,000 hectares of rice in Hung Nguyen district are in the heading stage, but the water levels in the rivers are lower than the average of many years and only allow nearly half of the pumps in the area to operate.

According to the district's agricultural department, Hung Nguyen district planted 5,700 hectares of rice in the spring of 2016. Currently, the rice is in the tillering and late tillering stages, requiring significant water, but water sources are beginning to dry up, affecting nearly 3,000 hectares. Last year, drought was only a concern during the summer-autumn season, but this year the spring rice crop is already facing difficulties. Therefore, it is predicted that the drought situation will be even more severe in the upcoming summer-autumn season.

People build dikes to retain water for irrigating rice fields.

In Hung Phuc commune, this spring, 255 hectares of rice were planted. Currently, the spring rice is developing well, but 40 hectares in hamlets 5, 6, and 7 are severely lacking water. Mr. Nguyen Van Canh, Deputy Chairman of Hung Phuc Agricultural Cooperative, said that to ensure irrigation for the spring rice crop, the commune has mobilized 6 pumps, including 2 from the cooperative and 4 from the Nam Irrigation Company. The Hung Chau pumps have a large capacity (5,000 m³).³(/h) but the water level was low so it couldn't operate. Therefore, even though the canal runs along the edge of the rice fields, the water has to be pumped upstream for more than 1km, poured into the system, and then pumped back to irrigate the fields of hamlets 5, 6, and 7.

“The Hung Chau pumping station is located downstream, so the water level is too low to provide enough water for the pumping station to operate. Currently, the local authorities have extended the power line to the fields and requested the district's irrigation enterprise to install an electric pump of suitable capacity to serve the irrigation needs,” Mr. Canh said.

In light of this situation, Hung Nguyen district is directing communes and towns to strictly comply with the rotational pumping schedule. For areas drawing water from the Nam Dan sluice gate, localities and units are mobilizing all resources and coordinating with the Nam Dan Irrigation Company Limited to dredge main canals such as the Thap canal and Hoang Can canal... to create water sources.

Installation of the Rum River pumping station to combat drought in the downstream areas of Hung Phuc, Hung Thinh, and Hung Chau.

Over the past few days, the district's agricultural department, in coordination with the irrigation enterprise, has been installing five mobile pumping stations with a capacity of 5,000 cubic meters each.³/hour on the Rum River to pump water to the areas of Hung Chau, Hung Loi communes and a part of Hung Phuc commune. In addition to the provincial budget supporting the dredging of some main canals, the district allocates budget to support some particularly disadvantaged communes such as Hung Yen Bac and Yen Nam areas to organize drought relief efforts.

Many water pumps have been mobilized by people in Hung Yen Bac to combat the drought.

For areas directly supplied with water from the Lam River, the following pumping stations are directed to create water sources: Hung Xuan pumping station supplying water to Hung Tien, Hung Thang, and Hung Phuc communes; Hung Xa pumping station supplying water to Hung Thong pumping station; and Hung Phu pumping station supplying water to Hamlet 2 of Hung Chau commune. For areas outside this area, units must coordinate with the Southern Irrigation Company to dredge several canals such as the Lui pumping station canal and the Xuan Yen canal... to draw water from the Gai canal for irrigation in Hung Yen Bac and Hung Yen Nam communes.

Mr. Hoang Duc An, Head of the District's Agriculture Department, shared: "One of the effective methods in Hung Nguyen in the past and one we will continue to implement is mobilizing social resources to focus on drought prevention. The district also flexibly handles situations at different times. When the water supply is insufficient to complete the planting of the entire area, we concentrate water resources on the already planted areas, especially those severely affected by drought. We have implemented a mechanism to support 70% of the cost of short-term seeds for people planting in all low-lying areas and areas experiencing delayed planting due to drought."

Thu Huyen