Nghe An: Severe drought, fish dry up and die, farmers cut rice to feed buffalo

The entire Dai Son - Do Luong commune has 366 hectares of rice, of which 254 hectares are affected by drought, many rice areas cannot be restored. The commune has 14 large and small dams, of which 13 are dry. Khe Mua dam always stored a lot of water in previous years, but now the bottom is exposed. At Cho Ran dam, due to the gradually decreasing water level, hot weather, and temperatures of 38 degrees Celsius to 39 degrees Celsius for many consecutive days, fish have dried up and are scattered on the bottom of the dam.

The dam lake is dry and fish cannot survive in Dai Son - Do Luong. Photo: Le Ngoc Phuong

Rice is the main crop but it is also dying. From early morning, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhuong in Hamlet 2, Dai Son Commune, Do Luong has been going to the field to cut rice to feed her buffalo. The hardships and fatigue from tilling the land, sowing rice, fertilizing, now all is lost when the rice is about to stand and form ears. The drought for more than a month has made the fields dry.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhuong picks dry rice to feed her buffalo. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

All 7 sao of rice of Mrs. Nhuong's family are dying. To grow these 7 sao of rice, she had to spend more than 1 million for the threshing machine, 1.1 million for fertilizer, then money for seeds, field protection...

With a sad face, Mrs. Nhuong said: "The drought has killed all the rice. My family and the neighbors hope that the superiors will support us with some funding to compensate for the initial investment in planting...".

To save the rice, the people used oil pumps to pump continuously day and night. Mr. Nguyen Van Thai - Deputy of Hamlet 8, Dai Son Commune, Do Luong said, we had to mobilize the people to dig a ditch to lead water from the middle of the dam bottom to near the dam body to pump water. This is the 4th time since the beginning of the season that we have had to pump water day and night to save the rice plants.

To save the rice, farmers in Do Luong had to use oil pumps to suck water from the bottom of the dam. However, all the dams in the district are at dead water level. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

In Hien Son commune, the drought is also severe, out of 465 hectares of summer-autumn rice, 115 hectares are dry, the rice plants are withered and cannot grow. The heaviest damage is in the hamlets of Ru Hoi, Hoa Long, and Hoa Phu.

The whole commune has 3 large dams, of which Lach dam is dry, the remaining 2 dams, Ba Thi and Trot Luy, are also at dead water level.

As of the end of July, the entire Do Luong district has more than 1,200 hectares of rice and crops suffering from drought and water shortage for nearly a month, of which more than 851 hectares have been affected in rice growth, and 381 hectares of rice have died.

The summer-autumn crop area affected by drought is mainly concentrated in the communes at the two ends of the district, irrigation water depends on the dam system such as: Giang Son Dong, Giang Son Tay, Bai Son, Hien Son, Tru Son, Nhan Son, Dai Son, My Son... According to the localities, it is currently very difficult to fight drought because the dams have run out of water.

81.5 hectares of aquaculture area was damaged, fish died and dried up on the dry, cracked ground.

Water levels in dams drop as drought persists. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

Do Luong district has 90 large and small dams. The dams are mainly located in mountainous communes and communes in the two ends of the district. Most of the dams in the area are now dry, with less than 10% remaining, not providing enough irrigation water for summer-autumn production.

The drought situation is severe, the heat this year is expected to last until September, there is little rainfall and the number of dead rice and crops is expected to increase.