Ninh Thuan Province’s lakes and reservoirs have already dried up even though the dry season has just begun.
Dry lands
The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has reported that the water at 20 lakes and reservoirs had fallen to 61.45 million cubic metres, accounting for just 32 percent of capacity. Along with the fields, small lakes that have storage capacity of less than one million cubic metres have already dried up.
Manager of Tan Giang Reservoir, one of the biggest reservoirs in Thuan Nam District with capacity of 13 million cubic metres, said they could only supply a small amount of water to help people grow beans and corn. "It's not enough for the rice fields. The water level fell from eight million cubic metres two weeks ago to six million."
Song Sat Reservoir holds little water
A similar situation occurred at Song Sat, where the reservoir stands at only a third full.
Pi Nang Thi Dem, a local, said her family had to abandon their fields to find other work. "Sometime we go fishing. We’ll only have water for our fields when there’s prolonged rain," she said.
According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, 760 out of 1,031 hectares of cultivated land have been converted to dry-land farming. But the drought is still affecting people's lives.
Farmer Nguyen Ngoc Hung said he had to drill a well to water the corn field. "It's lucky that fuel prices are low this year or else we might not be able to run the pumps," he said. Some other farmers are not so lucky, Truong Van Tho said he tried three locations but was still unable to find groundwater for his watermelon crops.
Farmers switch to drought-resistant crops
Last year, Ninh Thuan Province was allowed to apply for World Bank's help to build Tan My Reservoir to improve the provincial irrigation system.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said if last year drought was severe, with little rain and an average temperature of 36 to 40 Celsius in the central region, the situation might become even grimmer this time.