Nghia Dan: Some communes have no more water to fight drought

(Baonghean) - Up to this point, Nghia Dan district has more than 3,700 hectares of rice and crops affected by drought, with a total loss of more than 520 hectares, of which rice accounts for 190 hectares, concentrated in Nghia Loc and Nghia Lam communes... Faced with this situation, the district has directed communes to fight drought fiercely in many ways, however, some communes are at risk of running out of water to fight drought.

The central rice field of Nghia Lam commune has 150 hectares of rice, of which more than 50 hectares have been burned to death and cannot be recovered, including the hamlets of Lang Dan, Lang Lam, Khe Lau, and Yen Trung. In the commune, there are 6 dams, all of which are below the dead water level. To save the rice, these days, Nghia Lam commune has invested in buying high-capacity pumps, mobilizing pumps from the people to pump water while the reservoirs are not yet exhausted. However, the 150 hectares of rice in this commune only have 3.5 km of surrounding canal system and no intra-field canal system, so the commune can only save the drought by pumping water from one field to another and asking to pump water from the fish pond of the 19/5 farm. But with a small fish pond, it can only save 1/3 of the area.

Mr. Le Trung Kien - Vice Chairman of Nghia Lam Commune People's Committee said that the commune is currently prioritizing water to save rice crops, while the crop area has also been damaged a lot, of which 45 hectares of sugarcane alone cannot be restored. The commune has tried every way to save the rice, but if the weather continues to be sunny like this in a few more days, there will be no more water to fight the drought.

Not only Nghia Lam, but the whole Nghia Dan district is suffering from severe drought. Many communes with little rice damage are focusing on drought prevention for watermelon and sugarcane. 25/25 communes and towns have established committees and teams to assign tasks of water supply and pumping.

Faced with the situation of many dams being affected by drought, more than 20 dams falling below the dead water level, the Department of Agriculture of Nghia Dan district directed the communes to mobilize all means and human resources to fight drought, increase dredging of canals, but up to now Nghia Dan still has more than 500 hectares of rice affected by drought, of which only 300 hectares can be recovered. In many communes such as Nghia Loc and Nghia Lam, the dams have fallen to the dead water level. The drought in Nghia Dan shows that any commune with a small, degraded canal system that cannot meet the needs of bringing water to the fields will suffer heavy losses in agricultural production when the drought lasts for a long time. Therefore, in the long term, the construction of a complete canal system will help Nghia Dan reduce crop damage caused by drought as well as floods.

Dinh Thuy