Due to the prolonged drought, currently in Ham Thuan Nam district, only Du Du Lake and Tan Lap Lake are still irrigating dragon fruit for the last time and the last session is expected to end on May 4, 2024. The remaining projects have run out of water or have stopped supplying irrigation water to save for domestic use. Therefore, thousands of hectares of dragon fruit of local farmers are lacking irrigation water, "holding out" waiting for rain.
Plants "wither" waiting for water
In the middle of a scorching midday sun, some farmers with dragon fruit gardens in Ta Mon village, Tan Lap commune, still walked around the Ta Mon lake, which was now bare at the bottom, looking down at the few remaining puddles of water, absent-mindedly. Around the lake, there were many plastic cans and pumps stretching from the lake bed up to the shore, ready to suck up the last drops of water when possible. They seemed to be used to the repetition of drought and water shortages in every dry season in this area, but they did not expect the drought to be so severe this year.
Mr. Lam Hong Diep's family in Tan Lap commune has 5,000 dragon fruit pillars near Ta Mon lake area. They shared: "Because there is no water for irrigation from the irrigation water source, we have used a small amount of water from the well and used a drip irrigation system, and composted dragon fruit roots to maintain the life of the plants. But the drought is so severe that we can only hold out for about 10 more days. If there is still no water, we are afraid that we cannot save the plants that are gradually withering." That is also the common reality of many households lacking water for production in Ham Thuan Nam in particular and the whole province in general, especially dragon fruit growers who are in the off-season lighting period. Although the price is good, there is no output, leading to loss of income...
Regarding the current water resources, Mr. Nguyen Huu Hue - General Director of the Provincial Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited said: Ham Thuan Nam has 8 reservoirs and 13 large and small dams. The total useful capacity of the reservoirs is less than 46 million m3, serving irrigation water for 6,850 hectares of agricultural land, of which 380 hectares are rice fields and 6,470 hectares are dragon fruit fields (the dragon fruit field in Ham Thuan Nam district is about 13,000 hectares). As of April 8, the remaining useful water volume of reservoirs in the district is about 11.1 million m3/45.8 million m3, reaching 24.3% of the design, about 6.2 million m3 lower than the same period. Therefore, the irrigation water source currently only meets about 50% of the locality's current crop area. Notably, the current difficulty is that the locality is lacking a "warehouse" of water for storage. Some reservoirs such as Ba Bau and Ta Mon have been silted up so much that they cannot guarantee their designed capacity, reducing the water supply capacity of the project...
Proper water regulation
Faced with the complicated developments of the ongoing drought, on April 9, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Doan Anh Dung and a number of departments and branches inspected the drought prevention work in Ham Thuan Nam. Here, the provincial leaders met, listened to and shared the losses with a number of farmers who were lacking water for production near Ta Mon Lake.
The provincial leaders said that drought is a common situation in the province, in which Ham Thuan Nam is the most severely affected area. Therefore, they hope that people will try to overcome difficulties and continue to use water-saving measures such as drip irrigation, digging ponds, and drilling wells while waiting for rain. At the same time, they requested the People's Committee of Ham Thuan Nam district and related units to prioritize water for daily life, livestock and production. Regarding recommendations and proposals on dredging reservoirs, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested relevant units and localities to discuss and possibly pilot. On the other hand, they should review the water needs of the areas in the district to reasonably distribute the remaining water resources.
Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc - Vice Chairman of Ham Thuan Nam District People's Committee said that currently, the water source for agricultural production in the district still maintains the minimum demand of crops, especially dragon fruit. Regarding the water source for domestic water plants, the locality has balanced to ensure enough domestic water until June 30. Apart from Lo To village and village 1, Ham Can commune, which have difficulties in domestic water, there is no area in the district lacking domestic water to the point of needing support. On the other hand, Ham Thuan Nam District People's Committee has specifically identified areas that ensure irrigation, areas at risk of drought and water shortage to adjust production plans and arrange appropriate crop structures. In addition, the organization launched a movement to build small irrigation works, dredge canals, dig ponds and lakes to store water for irrigation of crops to cope with the ongoing serious shortage of irrigation water...
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