Thanh Chuong: Thousands of hectares of rice fields at risk of water shortage for spring crop

Now, when the seedlings have reached maturity, fertilizer has been spread evenly, and a tiller has been rented, but there is no water for planting. Fearing that they will miss the harvest season, some farmers in Thanh Chuong have "planted" in the hope that it will rain.

The rice seedlings are old but in many places Thanh Chuong farmers do not have water to plant. Photo: Dinh Ha

According to the leader of Thanh Chuong Irrigation Company, the unit had anticipated the situation and had started storing water early. However, at 6 pumping stations along Lam River, due to the river water being depleted by more than 1 meter lower than the average of previous years, most of the pots were dry and could not be pumped for irrigation. The entire district had about 3,000 hectares at risk of water shortage.

Thanh Chuong district leaders inspect spring crop production. Photo: Dinh Ha

According to the Project, in the 2020 spring crop, Thanh Chuong district will plant about 14,500 hectares of short-term crops to achieve nearly 70,000 tons of grain. To ensure high production results, the District People's Committee has issued a project and will soon deploy it to each locality. However, the situation of Lam River water running dry and pumping stations being unable to operate is causing many obstacles.

Many pumping stations are bare bottomed and cannot pump water from Lam River. Photo: Dinh Ha

Mr. Nguyen Van Que - Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee shared: "We are directing all communes to have plans to regulate and save water from dams. We request the Irrigation Company to urgently dredge and connect more pumping pipes to draw water, and at the same time request superiors to direct Ban Ve Hydropower Plant to regulate and release water to have water to pump for rice cultivation."