Floods cause difficulties for agricultural areas in Nghe An
(Baonghean) - Despite many efforts to invest and repair from both the State and the people, the drainage system in Nghe An's crop areas still has many shortcomings. Drought reduces the productivity and quality of crops, but floods often cause total loss due to the deterioration of irrigation works...
DIFFICULTY TO CONVERT HIGH VALUE CROPS
Although sown directly for more than 2 months now, 2 sao of autumn-winter rice in Mo Hien field of Mrs. Tran Thi Nga's family, hamlet 6, Nghi Thinh commune, Nghi Loc district is still low and stunted. On this land, Mrs. Nga grows corn and peanuts in the spring crop but is often flooded due to small floods, the yield is usually only 70-80 kg/sao;
“After harvesting the spring crop, I wait until July to sow rice. This season is often flooded, and even if the water recedes for a week, rice can still be planted, but crops cannot withstand it. Therefore, even though the highest rice yield is only about 1 quintal/sao, I still have to accept planting,” said Ms. Nga.
Nghi Thinh commune has 60 hectares of rice fields and 250 hectares of fertile land, but for the past 4 years, as the commune's drainage system has increasingly revealed many shortcomings, agricultural production of local people has also been disrupted.
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| Earthen canal in Nghi Thinh commune, Nghi Loc district. Photo: Phu Huong |
Mr. Le Van Phong - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: The whole commune has up to 180 hectares of fertile land that must be converted to winter rice cultivation, the production value has decreased by more than half compared to growing other crops, of which the most conversion is to the summer-autumn and winter crops. The canals are mainly earthen canals, with poor drainage and frequent siltation. Flooding occurs in all production crops, in the spring crop, it is often flooded due to minor flooding in March and April; in August, September, and even November and December, crops are not safe. Just about 200 mm of rain causes widespread flooding, sometimes it takes 5-6 days for the water to recede, so many areas can only grow rice that can withstand flooding, although the yield and efficiency are very low. For example, this winter crop, the commune's plan is to only plant 150 hectares of rice, but the actual area has reached 180 hectares.
Nghi Loc district has 13 communes in the color zone. Every winter crop, the whole district grows about 800 hectares of corn, 2,000 hectares of vegetables, and 300-500 hectares of peanuts, with great economic value and efficiency. However, this is also a crop with too many potential risks.
Mr. Dong Thanh Binh - Deputy Head of the District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: Winter crop production is often damaged, there are years when it is completely lost due to floods. In 2013, Nghi Loc had a project to drain the colored area worth nearly 80 billion VND but only phase 1 was implemented and then stopped due to lack of capital, so the drainage system is not synchronous; the main canals in the colored area such as Nha Bien canal, Nha Na canal, East Nghi Phong canal, West Nghi Phong canal... have all been basically expanded, however, only about 10% of the canal length in key locations has been concreted, the rest is still earthen canals.
Meanwhile, the construction of some industrial zones and urbanization has blocked some drainage routes, causing the loss of some of the district's "water-bearing navels"; combined with the fact that the soil is mainly sandy soil, which does not absorb water, only 150-180 mm of rain is needed to cause widespread flooding.
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| Floods in Nam Loc (Nam Dan) during storm No. 4. Photo: Thanh Phuc |
As a locality that has developed quite strongly in the production of color crops and is considered to have invested in building a fairly complete drainage system with 75 - 80% of the length of the dike being concreted and hardened, except for the communes located along National Highway 1A, far from the sea, with higher terrain, it is possible to grow high-value color crops in the winter crop. In the remaining 5/8 communes in the Bai Ngang color area of Dien Chau district, namely Dien Hai, Dien Hung, Dien Trung, Dien Bich, Dien Van, corn is still the main choice, although the efficiency is only a fraction compared to growing vegetables.
According to Mr. Le The Hieu - Head of the District's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the drainage system for coastal areas has been built but has not yet met drainage requirements, primarily because the canals and dykes have degraded, many canals are earthen canals that are constantly silted, while climate change in recent years has caused many extreme weather phenomena, heavy and frequent rains, so drainage cannot be kept up.
The drainage system has not met the requirements of crop restructuring as well as the impact of climate change. In the past 5 years, in many areas, just a 50 - 70 mm rainstorm is enough to cause widespread flooding, and at many times, the water only recedes 5 - 7 days after the rain. Therefore, in the growing areas of Dien Chau, corn still accounts for the majority of the winter crop structure, only a few communes such as Dien Thanh, Dien Phong, Dien Hong, Dien Thinh can grow vegetables with much higher value.
FOCUS ON DREDGING AND REPAIRING CANALS
Every winter crop, Nghe An has nearly 37,800 hectares of key crops such as corn, peanuts, various vegetables and beans, and raises over 2,600 hectares of fish for the third crop. Of which, the area of crops in the colored areas accounts for a large area and plays a very important role in increasing the value of winter crop production.
However, in reality, this is also a production season with many potential risks, along with unfavorable weather conditions, the infrastructure system is an important cause leading to this situation. The whole province currently has 800 km of drainage canals serving flood control for the colored areas, of which only over 200 km have been solidified, mainly the main canal system, the rest are earthen canals that are often silted, with poor drainage capacity.
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| Dien Ky Commune Youth Union dredges canals before entering spring crop production. Photo: Document |
According to Mr. Nguyen Truong Thanh - Head of the Irrigation Sub-Department, the drainage canal system has not been built and consolidated synchronously due to financial difficulties. In the end-of-canal drainage system, the main canal axes have been basically invested in and built, with good drainage capacity, but the drainage canal system from the inner fields to the main canal still has many shortcomings, sedimentation, landslides, and is not yet consolidated. After a dry season, during the flood season, most of the crops have been silted up, so the drainage capacity is poor. During the rainy and flood season, the situation of crops being completely lost, having to be replanted or having reduced productivity often occurs.
“To ensure drainage for winter crops, localities and irrigation management units must focus on dredging and repairing canals, especially drainage canals for crop areas. Promote and effectively promote the movement of the entire people joining forces to do irrigation, dredging, repairing, and arranging fields to drain water for winter crops as well as repairing and renovating works after a period of coping with storms and floods; promote internal resources along with support policies to focus on handling the drainage system from the inner fields to the main canals.”
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| Vegetable fields in Hung Dong commune (Vinh city) are submerged in water due to heavy rain and flooding. Photo by Thanh Phuc |
Besides, while the uniform drainage system has not met the requirements, technical solutions in cultivation such as changing crop structure and building a reasonable crop calendar are also considered effective solutions to minimize damage caused by floods.
