Ke Sach district gardeners protect fruit gardens during drought and salinity season

Among fruit trees, durian is considered a plant that is quite sensitive to salinity. Therefore, durian growers are very careful in caring for and protecting their gardens during the dry season and salinity intrusion. As a large-scale durian grower, Mr. Huynh Thanh Le, Hamlet 5, Ba Trinh Commune, Ke Sach District shared: "My 4-hectare durian garden has entered its 7th year of planting, and has only harvested a few crops because durian only bears fruit after 5 years of planting. Because durian has high economic value, I am very concerned about the growth process of the tree, especially the water source for irrigation must always be ensured continuously and absolutely avoid salinity. At the beginning of the dry season, I check the drainage system and ponds around the garden to see if there is any water leakage into the garden or damaged ponds, and will repair or replace them immediately. I also have a plan to store fresh water in the pond to irrigate the garden if salinity persists continuously".

To get accurate information about salinity, Mr. Le often updates the information transmitted by the professional sector through daily messages on Zalo and Facebook. Thanks to always proactively responding to and preventing drought and salinity, over the years, Mr. Le's durian garden has always grown green and green, with high fruit yield.

Mr. Nguyen Giang Tinh, Ke Sach town, Ke Sach district (Soc Trang) protects his red-fleshed and yellow-fiber jackfruit garden well to avoid drought and salinity. Photo: THUY LIEU

In addition to durian, jackfruit is also a plant that is sensitive to salt water. When gardeners grow jackfruit, the first thing they care about is that the water supply must always be absolutely sweet. To protect his red-fleshed, yellow-fiber jackfruit garden, Mr. Nguyen Giang Tinh, Ke Sach town, Ke Sach district, shared his experience: "My family's 1-hectare red-fleshed, yellow-fiber jackfruit garden has been planted for more than 2 years. The jackfruit is in the stage of bearing the first crop of fruit, so keeping the garden from being affected by salt is very important. Therefore, from the beginning of the 11th lunar month of 2024, I have closely monitored the salinity situation in the rivers and canals that bring water to irrigate the jackfruit garden. To effectively protect the jackfruit garden on hot, sunny days, I often measure the salinity in the upstream canal that takes water into the garden pond and before watering the jackfruit, I also measure the salinity in the pond, thanks to which the jackfruit garden has not been affected by salt water in recent years."

According to the forecast information of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the heat in March will be similar to the average of many years and the salinity intrusion in the Mekong Delta will be higher than the average of many years. From February to April 2025, salinity intrusion will increase, affecting people's lives and agricultural production in localities. However, the salinity intrusion is not as serious as the dry seasons of 2015 - 2016 and 2019 - 2020.

Comrade Tran Van Toan - Head of the Plant Cultivation and Plant Protection Station of Ke Sach district said that based on the forecast of the professional sector and the guidance documents of the province, agricultural farmers, especially fruit growers, must be extremely careful in responding to salinity intrusion into the orchard; regularly check the system of ponds and ditches containing water in the garden and update the drought and salinity situation on Zalo and Facebook pages set up by the locality to provide hourly salinity measurements to households, promptly choose the time to take water to irrigate the orchard. Regarding expertise, farmers are advised to increase the supply of necessary fertilizers for the orchard during the drought and salinity period, use ponds and ditches to be ready to reserve fresh water to irrigate crops if salinity occurs for a long time...

THUY LIEU

Source: https://baosoctrang.org.vn/nong-nghiep/202503/nha-vuon-huyen-ke-sach-bao-ve-vuon-cay-an-trai-trong-mua-han-man-2485eb5/