Tens of thousands of hectares of dry and thirsty crops
The Central Highlands is the second largest agricultural production region of the country after the Mekong Delta, with many key industrial crops such as coffee, pepper, cashew and rubber. This year, the deadline comes earlier than previous years.
Specifically, the water level of the irrigation dams in the area is declining day by day after months without rain and farmers are pumping water to plant crops. Flow in rivers and streams has decreased sharply, many rivers and small streams have been exhausted and inert.
Mr. Hoang Duc Cuong – Deputy General Director of the General Department of Meteorology and Hydrology said that the amount of flow on the rivers in the Central and Central Highlands region is in shortage compared to the average of many years from 25-80 %, some rivers lack more than 90%. The reservoirs at this time amount to only about 62% of the volume.
According to statistics of the Agriculture sector in the Central Highlands provinces, this year's dry season has about 20,000 hectares of affected crops (of which mainly perennial crops, the rest is a small area of rice and crops).
The provinces most affected are Kon Tum and Gia Lai. The provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong may be less affected. The time limit is from mid-March to the end of April. This situation occurs after many years when farmers focus on massively developing crops that need a lot of water in the dry season such as pepper and coffee.
According to Dr. Tran Vinh – Deputy Director of the Central Highlands Agricultural and Forestry Science Institute, most of the Central Highlands provinces have “broken the battle” on crop planning. Trees with high economic value, people are racing to plant a series, not following the plan, ignoring the recommendations of scientists and authorities. The clearest evidence is the massive development of pepper in recent years.
In Dak Nong, the pepper area is about 36,000 ha – 2.5 times more than the planning orientation. In Dak Lak, the pepper area has also reached 39,000ha, far beyond the general plan. Massive development of pepper in areas that do not ensure water sources makes it difficult to fight against drought and even risk crop failure. While most of the wells in the Central Highlands area are under water shortage.
Many irrigation works are damaged and degraded
Development of irrigation systems and canals will be a long-term direction of the Central Highlands provinces in drought prevention. However, the current fact is that the irrigation system in the Central Highlands is both lacking and seriously degraded.
Specifically, the whole Central Highlands has built 2,354 irrigation works, ensuring irrigation capacity for nearly 290,000 hectares of crops. However, in fact only irrigating about 214,645 ha, meeting more than 20% of the regional irrigation needs.
In Lam Dong, out of 157,000 hectares of plants that are proactive in irrigation water, the irrigation system ensures irrigation for nearly 60,000 ha. However, through review, out of 430 water projects, there are 41 damaged, degraded ones that are at risk of unsafe.
To cope with the drought situation, in addition to irrigation development solutions, in many regions in the Central Highlands, people have bravely applied scientific and technical advances, changed farming methods to maintain production. Efficient, sustainable.
According to statistics of the Agriculture and Rural Development (Agriculture and Rural Development) province of Lam Dong, the province now has 28,000ha of plants deployed for irrigation (accounting for 10% of the cultivated area).
Dak Nong province has issued two important projects on agricultural economic development: the Project of Restructuring of the Agriculture Sector towards increasing added value, adapting to climate change and developing sustainably to in 2020, with orientations to 2030 and the Scheme on development of hi-tech applications in the province until 2030, with orientations toward 2035.
Accordingly, in the period from 2018 – 2030, Dak Nong will invest nearly VND 13,000 billion to implement the Agriculture Restructuring Project in the direction of increasing added value and adapting to climate change. and sustainable development.
Currently, the province is also promoting the transformation of crop structure, especially rice with difficulty in water sources, to shallow crops with lower water demand such as sweet potatoes, corn, soybeans, peanuts, vegetables, etc.
VND 103,224 billion overall planning for irrigation in the Central Highlands
“The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has approved the Master Plan for Water Resources in the Central Highlands for the period of 2030, with a vision to 2050, with a total budget of about VND 103,224 billion. Accordingly, water supply solutions for production of over 1.16 million ha of arable land; in which, increasing the area to ensure the irrigated area from irrigation works reaches 52%; ensuring 90% of domestic and industrial water sources … Along with that, ensuring drainage and drainage with 10% rainfall “.
