Lam River bank erosion is increasingly complicated
The Lam River banks are increasingly encroaching inland, many crop fields are now vast rivers.
Hundreds of landslides
Agricultural land along the river is gradually shrinking. Every year, when the rainy season comes, many crops and crops of the people are swept away by the water. More worryingly, at some points, there is still an unpredictable risk when the riverbank erosion is gradually eating into the dike.
The landslide situation on Lam river bank in Hung Nguyen district has been happening for many years, but the most severe situation has been in the last 5 years. Among the many landslide locations in this locality, the most severe is in Long Xa commune with the area of land "swallowed" by the river each year reaching over 3,000 m2.2One of the important reasons leading to this situation is that the Ha Tinh side has been embanked, forming an alluvial ground and causing changes in the flow, causing strong erosion along the bank in Hung Nguyen district.
Mr. Hoang Duc An - Head of the District's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: Hung Nguyen has nearly 1,000 hectares of alluvial land along the Lam River suitable for growing many types of crops, especially this fertile land is very favorable for developing high-tech agricultural production. In recent years, the district has focused on attracting and creating conditions for organizations and individuals to implement high-tech agricultural projects and models; up to now, some models in Hung Thanh, Hung Linh, and Long Xa communes have affirmed their outstanding efficiency compared to conventional production.
The recent landslides have greatly affected the district's agricultural production, especially the development of high-tech agricultural production in fertile alluvial communes.
Mr. Hoang Duc An - Head of Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Hung Nguyen district
Currently, along the Lam River with a length of more than 168 km, there are hundreds of landslides in 68 communes, wards and towns. Riverbank landslides have destroyed a large area of cultivated land, directly affecting many people's houses. The cause is determined to be changes in the flow and massive sand mining.
Mr. Tran Quoc Toan - Deputy Head of the Irrigation Sub-Department said: It can be localized or a long route, but in general, in all localities where Lam River passes through, riverbank erosion occurs, however, the most severe is in Anh Son, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan and Hung Nguyen districts.
The Department has regularly reviewed and assessed the level of landslides and proposed solutions to overcome them. With funding from the Central and the province, a number of investment projects to build embankments to prevent landslides on the Lam River bank have been implemented. However, due to funding difficulties, in recent years, most of the repairs have only been localized in dangerous locations, many weak points, and landslides along the Lam River bank, especially in the downstream area, still exist. And so, before this year's storm season, the risk of land loss and insecurity still exists in many localities of the province.
Rivers "eat" the land
In just 5 years from 2019 to present, the 6-hectare farm of Thanh Vinh Cooperative for Production, Supply and Consumption of Clean Agricultural Products in Long Xa Commune, Hung Nguyen District has lost nearly 9,000 m2production land. Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh - Director of the cooperative is worried: Every time the rainy season comes, the riverbank collapses, large blocks of soil are washed away, and for the past 5 years, there has been no year without floods. "To prevent landslides, right from the first crop, we had to leave about 30m and did not dare to plant anything, but now we have had to continue to retreat further. The riverbank is vertical and no longer has any slope, the loose soil underfoot has almost no grip, so we don't know how much more land will be lost during the upcoming rainy season," Mr. Thanh said in frustration.
Over the past years, the Lam River alluvial land stretching from Xuan Lam commune to Long Xa commune, Hung Nguyen district has continuously eroded deep into the bank. The alluvial land of Long Xa commune alone, with a length of 2.2 km, used to have an area of over 200 hectares, but now only about 150 hectares remain.
Mr. Vo Van Chien - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: Along the riverbank, there are some sections that have been invested in building embankments, and in these areas, people have been able to produce crops for the entire summer-autumn crop. Most of the remaining areas have been eroded, with some sections only a few hundred meters away from the embankment, and people only dare to grow crops for the spring crop when there is no rain, flood, or landslide.
“We have also planted trees to block the waves but it is not effective. During the rainy season, all the trees are washed away into the river. The sandy soil is very susceptible to landslides,” said Mr. Vo Van Chien. In less than 10 years, the riverbank has retreated about 40m. Landslides have washed away the land, so if previously a riverbank was over 300m2Currently, the land for production is only 10 meters per person, while in this locality, agricultural production is the main industry, each person only has 9 meters of land for rice cultivation.
Not only losing production land, the inter-commune road from Long Xa to Xuan Lam, which was newly built in 2023 with an investment of tens of billions of VND, is also getting closer to the riverbank and if this situation continues, "the river swallows the road" is a very clear risk.
In the same situation, in Trung Phuc Cuong commune, Nam Dan district, the agricultural land along the Lam river has also been seriously eroded; many areas of crops and part of the acacia hybrid forest of the people have been swept away by the water. According to preliminary statistics, in just the past 4 years, this locality has lost up to 17 hectares of alluvial land due to erosion.
According to Mr. Nguyen An Toan - Chairman of Trung Phuc Cuong Commune People's Committee, to solve this problem, local resources are not enough, the only feasible solution is to have investment from the Central and the province to build embankments to protect the riverbank.
