Over 6,500 hectares of summer-autumn rice in Nghe An are at risk of drought and saltwater intrusion.
(Baonghean.vn) - Up to this point, hydroelectric reservoirs in the province have had to increase discharge to the third time to fight drought and save rice in the downstream areas. This is considered one of the warning signs of the risk of early, severe and widespread drought in summer-autumn production this year.
Risk of early and widespread drought
Since the tillering period, 3 sao of spring rice of Mr. Phan Van Vinh's family in Cat Van commune (Thanh Chuong) has been suffering from drought.
"After spraying herbicides without water to care for the rice, the rice leaves turned red-yellow. Luckily, the Thanh Van pumping station was operational afterwards, so the rice was saved in time. However, near the end of April, when the rice plants began to flower, the drought situation returned. With the spring crop like this, I don't know what will happen to the summer-autumn crop," Mr. Vinh worried.
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Thanh Chuong district leaders inspect the operation of pumping stations along Lam River. Photo: Phu Huong |
Currently, the third time the Ban Ve, Khe Bo and Chi Khe hydroelectric reservoirs have been forced to increase water discharge to "save" more than 1,000 hectares of rice in Thanh Chuong and Do Luong districts, which are entering the flowering period.
Mr. Le Dinh Thanh - Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee shared: "Irrigation water is difficult right from the spring crop, so in the summer-autumn crop, drought is likely to be more severe from May and June, especially in areas that "receive" water from pumping stations from Lam River".
To limit the impact of drought and natural disasters, Thanh Chuong only arranges rice cultivation on areas with proactive water supply; at the same time, it fully exploits water resources in dams and reservoirs. The whole district strives to cultivate 5,000 hectares of summer-autumn-spring rice.
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For many years, due to drought, farmers in the semi-mountainous communes of Yen Thanh district had to harvest young rice to feed their buffaloes and cows. Photo: Phu Huong |
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Duong - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee, this summer-autumn crop season, the whole district will likely have about 550 hectares of unproductive, abandoned crops. In particular, in addition to some low-lying areas or flooded areas, some communes where people only grow one spring crop to get food for the whole year, many areas will be abandoned due to drought.
“More than 8,000 hectares using water from the Do Luong bara self-flowing system are basically secure, while nearly 5,000 hectares “using water” from the dam will not have a guaranteed source of irrigation water. We have reviewed and assigned targets to communes regarding area, in which areas with uncertain production, often suffering from drought and floods, will not be arranged to plant rice but will study to switch to other more suitable crops; at the same time, we will strongly direct to close production in other areas, planting 11,000/12,800 hectares of rice land in the district,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Duong.
Early proactive solutions to drought
In the summer-autumn crop this year, Nghe An strives to achieve 424,410 tons of grain, accordingly, the whole province will plant 81,000 hectares of rice. According to assessment, this is a crop facing many difficulties and challenges. Temperatures are generally higher while total rainfall is lower than the average of many years; especially since the spring crop, water has had to be regulated to serve production, to prevent drought in Thanh Chuong and Do Luong areas. Meanwhile, dams, rivers, streams and key works are at low levels. It is estimated that the whole province has over 6,500 hectares at risk of drought and water shortage.
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Right from the spring crop, the water level at Do Luong estuary at many times had to be regulated to a low level to prioritize irrigation for the downstream area of the Southern irrigation system. Photo: Phu Huong |
According to the forecast of the North Central Hydrometeorological Station, there will be no rain in the coming time, the water level of Lam River will tend to decrease; the water level of Ban Ve reservoir will be very low. Meanwhile, from now until the end of the spring crop, at least one additional irrigation is needed for the rice flowering and standing period. Therefore, supplying water for production right from the spring crop in some areas is difficult, especially the pumping stations along Lam River in Thanh Chuong area and Thuan Son, Luu Son, Trung Son communes (Do Luong).
Up to now, of the 102 lakes managed by enterprises, only 4 are full of water, 8 less than the same period in 2022; 56 lakes have a capacity >70% of the design capacity, (same period in 2022 there were 65 lakes); only 26/959 dams managed by localities are full of water. At the main works, the basic water level is lower than the design water level.
According to the plan, the area of irrigation, drainage, and water supply for the summer-autumn crop this year in Nghe An is nearly 110,000 hectares, of which over 81,650 hectares are rice. Given the current water resources and irrigation needs, from the middle to the end of the dry season this year, providing irrigation water for production will be very difficult, with the risk of drought, water shortage, and saltwater intrusion likely to occur early and on a large scale.