A man walks on a dry canal in Tien Giang Province the dry season in 2019
At present, the water level at reservoirs in the Mekong River is very low, with the crucial Mekong River water level regulator of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake some 17-19 billion cubic metres lower than the average level of many previous years, the ministry reports.
Saline intrusion may affect over 210,000 hectares of agricultural land in the Mekong Delta region between November 2021 and March 2022, including 60,000 hectares of rice in some coastal provinces of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, and Soc Trang.
More than 43,000 hectares of fruit trees in Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, and Soc Trang provinces and an additional 107,400 hectares of shrimp farms in Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Soc Trang, and Bac Lieu may also be hit by the environmental problem.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have urged local authorities in these provinces to prepare proper solutions to cope with saline intrusion, including rescheduling production time and preparing water supplies to minimise the damage caused by the problem.
Agricultural authorities in some provinces including Long An, Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, and Soc Trang said that they have asked local farmers to start planting on some 400,000 hectares of land earlier to avoid the dry season. In the meantime, many canals and lakes in the area have also been dredged and upgraded to better receive and regulate water.