Duong Thi Nguyet from Dong An Vinh Village, Ly Son District, harvested her onion crop. However, because of the lack of water, she has been forced to let her fields remain unused for the next two months.
Roughly 200 hectares of farming land in Ly Son Island in the central province of Quang Ngai have been left idle for months due to drought
At this time of previous years, fields in Ly Son Island were covered in purple onions, but this year, many fields have become dry.
Tran Van Giau, also from Dong An Vinh Village, said that this year, he used only 360 square metres of land to grow watermelon and maize. In previous years, he planted garlic and onions on around 1,800 square metres.
The severe drought has happened in Ly Son since the winter-spring garlic crop of this year. Many wells have become dry.
Vo Tri Thoi, deputy head of Ly Son District’s Rural Infrastructure and Economics Board, said that so far this year, local people have grown just 50 hectares of onions and some kinds of other crops. Meanwhile, nearly 70% of agricultural land has been left unused.
Amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, red onion prices are quite low, so local authorities advised farmers to grow less of this kind of crop. Growing should only be carried out in areas that have guaranteed water supplies, Thoi added.