Drought, saltwater intrusion loom in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta
The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta plans to grow this year’s winter-spring rice crop early since drought and saltwater intrusion are forecast to be severe in the dry season starting at the end of this year.
The country’s rice granary is expected to sow 1.55 million hectares, down 50,000ha from the 2018-19 winter-spring crop.
Other crops will be grown on the 50,000ha as a proactive measure to mitigate the damage caused by saltwater intrusion.
The intrusion is expected to occur one or two months earlier than normal next year, according to the Southern Irrigation Science Institute.
Saltwater could reach 30-35 kilometres from the coast in December and 45-55 kilometres by January and February, it said.
Lê Thanh Tùng, deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Plant Cultivation Department, said the ministry had warned delta farmers about the drought and saltwater forecast and instructed them to grow the rice crop early.
