Efforts to prevent and combat winter-spring drought

In the first months of 2024, in hot weather conditions, the risk of drought was warned, so localities in the province that are focusing on winter-spring crop production must deal with the lack of water for production. In Tanh Linh district, nearly 500 hectares of rice are currently affected by water shortage, so the locality, farmers and related units are coordinating to overcome the problem.

In the 2023-2024 winter-spring crop, the whole province has planted over 50,000 hectares of short-term crops, of which the rice area is nearly 40,000 hectares. Up to now, localities are starting to harvest rice on about 4,000 hectares. In Tanh Linh district alone, the district's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that the whole district produces over 9,000 hectares of rice, of which about 2,000 hectares of early winter-spring rice in communes and towns such as Duc Phu, Mang To, Bac Ruong, Duc Thuan, Lac Tanh, Huy Khiem and Gia An are in the ripening - harvesting stage, the remaining area is mainly in the heading stage.

*Winter-spring rice is facing drought in Tanh Linh.*

Mr. Mai Tri Man - Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tanh Linh district said that in the past time, the irrigated area for the winter-spring crop from electric pumping stations and self-flowing dams was over 7,382 hectares, reaching 99% of the plan. However, from the beginning of January 2024 until now, in the conditions of prolonged hot weather, the discharge flow of Ham Thuan Da Mi Hydropower Plant was low, fluctuating around 25 - 27 m3/s, plus the water level of La Nga River was low, causing difficulties in pumping irrigation for production in the district. Currently, some areas of the fields are lacking water, and there is a possibility of drying up if irrigation water is not supplemented in time. Through reviewing the area with water shortage of about 470 hectares, the rice plants are 40 - 70 days old, the water shortage period is about 5-7 days, with some areas lacking water for over 10 days.

Specifically, since the beginning of the year, Tanh Linh district has experienced two water shortages for winter-spring crop irrigation. One of them was during Tet (from February 10, 2024 to February 16, 2024) due to the Da Mi Hydropower Plant releasing a low level of 27 m3/s in hot weather conditions, causing a long irrigation pumping time. This resulted in some areas not being supplied with water in time, affecting the growth of rice plants. At this time, the locality regularly coordinated with relevant units, closely following the field to regulate water, ensuring that irrigation pumping did not cause production damage. The second period after Tet (from February 17 to 28, 2024) had about 470 hectares of area in communes including Duc Phu 170 hectares, Mang To 25 hectares, Dong Kho 50 hectares, Lac Tanh 25 hectares, Gia An 200 hectares at risk of damage due to water shortage. Therefore, the leaders of the District People's Committee together with functional departments, Binh Thuan KTCTTL One Member Co., Ltd. and Da Nhim - Ham Thuan - Da Mi Hydropower Joint Stock Company inspected the actual situation in the field and recorded that the rice production areas were not supplied with water in time, the rice plants were yellow and wilted, the soil was cracked in the communes with an area of 470 hectares.

*Tanh Linh district checks drought situation in the fields.*

Faced with the above situation, to ensure the water source for irrigation for over 8,500 hectares of rice from the flowering stage to harvest, the People's Committee of Tanh Linh district is continuing to publicly announce and promptly notify the irrigation schedule to localities, and has a plan to repair and fix the canal systems managed by the unit that are not yet guaranteed to serve the irrigation needs for the remaining 8,500 hectares of winter-spring crop production area 2023-2024 and prepare for irrigation for the upcoming summer-autumn crop 2024.

To prevent and combat drought in the winter-spring crop, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tanh Linh district also recommends that farmers do not sow the harvested winter-spring crop area of 2023 - 2024 and plow and dry the soil to destroy pests and diseases, and cut down the brown planthoppers. Along with that, regularly monitor and check the water source situation and promptly handle any incidents that may occur.

Tanh Linh District People's Committee requested Da Nhim - Ham Thuan - Da Mi Hydropower Joint Stock Company to adjust the generator flow rate to 40 m3/s and the minimum time is 14 hours/day to support irrigation pumping for the above areas at risk of water shortage.

Source