Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development inspects drought situation in Nghe An

Accompanying the delegation to Nghe An province were comrades: Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Hoang Nghia Hieu - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development...

Severe drought inNGHE AN

According to the report of the North Central Hydrometeorological Station, from May until now, Nghe An has been affected by 5 widespread heat waves and is still continuing. The amount of rainfall is insignificant.

Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong and the working delegation inspected Bara Nam Dan 2. Photo: Thanh Duy

The province has 1,061 reservoirs, of which 97 are managed by enterprises and 964 by localities. As of July 19, 2020, 97% of reservoirs managed by enterprises were short of water compared to their design capacity. Small reservoirs managed by communes and cooperatives only reached 20-30% of their design capacity.

In particular, 234 small lakes have fallen below the dead water level. In response to this situation, Nghe An has declared a state of natural disaster due to the heat wave occurring in the province.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Nghia Hieu said that the province's summer-autumn rice area is about 90,000 hectares. Currently, the area is lacking water about 10%, of which the area with severe drought has the possibility of rice dying about 5%, equivalent to about 4,500 hectares.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the working delegation conducted a field survey of the Bara Do Luong dam headworks. Photo: Thanh Duy

To combat drought, the province has directed many solutions, both short-term and long-term, to cope with drought. Right from the beginning of the season, the province has converted more than 2,000 hectares of highland rice land with water shortages to grow other crops that save water.

Currently, Nghe An has directed the Ban Ve Hydropower Reservoir in the upper Lam River to release water to create a source. In addition, water from the Southern Irrigation System has been directed to be irrigated in rotation for localities.

The province directed sectors and localities to take advantage of dredging channels; especially dredging and clearing flows, using field pumping stations to take advantage of other water sources to focus on saving rice.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the working delegation conducted a field survey of the Bara Do Luong dam project in Trang Son commune, Do Luong district. This is a project connecting the Bac Nghe An irrigation system to provide irrigation water for agriculture, creating a water source for industry and daily life for Do Luong, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu districts and Hoang Mai town.

Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong and the delegation also visited Bara Nam Dan 2, Xuan Hoa commune, Nam Dan district. This is the main project for the Nam Nghe An Irrigation System, providing irrigation water for the downstream areas of districts, towns and cities: Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc, Cua Lo town, Vinh city and domestic water for the people.

However, currently, getting water from Lam River through Bara Nam Dan 2 is facing difficulties. The staff here is on duty 24/7 to open Bara Nam Dan when the tide is high to take advantage of the water source. However, water can only be taken for 8 to 10 hours a day.

Drought-affected rice fields in Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district. Photo: Thanh Duy

The working delegation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development also inspected the drought situation in Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district.

Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong assessed that currently, 6 provinces in the North Central region are facing the most severe drought in the country, of which Nghe An is one of the most affected provinces.

IMPLEMENTING MANY SYNCHRONIZED SOLUTIONS TO COMBAT DROUGHT

Discussing solutions, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said: Currently, the North Central region is completing a series of projects to increase water supply capacity for production. In addition, from the beginning of the season, the Ministry has proactively guided the provinces to guide farmers to change crop structure.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is also reviewing inter-reservoirs to supply water from one lake to another where possible; directing the concentration of some areas where pumping stations can be mobilized to supply water, trying to minimize damage to agricultural production.

Bara Do Luong dam headworks, Trang Son commune, Do Luong district. Photo: Thanh Duy

In addition, the North Central provinces currently have about 46,600 households facing water shortages. Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong requested localities to focus on solutions so that no household lacks water for daily use, such as setting up temporary facilities or even providing water directly to people.

However, according to the head of the Agriculture sector, in the long term, it is necessary to review the water balance for each province and inter-region to ensure water security; review the economic structure, calculate water usage needs to have a comprehensive solution.

In addition, reviewing and supplementing the inter-reservoir planning is necessary, with the aim of using irrigation systems in the most beneficial and proactive way.

At the same time, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive review to have a more comprehensive, fundamental and systematic plan in the face of the severe impacts of climate change; at the same time, consider economic restructuring to have a suitable solution to balance water resources.

In particular, the agricultural sector tries to select plant and animal varieties that can adapt to conditions that consume the least amount of water, while simultaneously applying scientific and technological measures to use water most reasonably.

“These are comprehensive measures that must be taken in the coming time to contribute to adapting to climate change and at the same time promoting production development,” said Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

Also in Nam Dan district, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the working delegation and provincial leaders surveyed the actual crop restructuring model in Nam Anh commune.

Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong also visited the 2,000m2 greenhouse melon growing model of Mr. Le Canh Hieu in Nam Anh commune with an investment of 600 million VND. Each year he grows 2 crops, each crop brings an average profit of 100 million VND.

Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong and Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy visited the melon growing model of Mr. Le Canh Hieu in Nam Anh commune. Photo: Thanh Duy

The working delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and provincial leaders visited Nam Anh Cooperative, which specializes in producing safe tapioca starch.

Thanh Duy