According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from late 2015 until now, nearly 139,000 ha of rice in the Mekong Delta has been damaged, in which 86,000 ha at 70% and 43,000 at 30%-70%. The most affected provinces are Ca Mau (49,000ha), Kien Giang (34,093ha), Bac Lieu (11,456ha) and Ben Tre (13,844ha).
Regarding fresh water, 155,000 households (approximately 575,000 people) have now been suffered from water shortage, 144,000 households of which have not been fully provided with fresh water. Especially, only 4 communes in Cho Lach district of Ben Tre province have not been under saltwater intrusion.
At the meeting, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development- Mr. Cao Duc Phat said, over the years, the irrigation systems have been invested more and more, partly contributing to the salinity intrusion control and freshwater reserve. However, due to such serious drought and salinity, many areas have been severely affected.
"This year’s sanility intrusion is a serious natural disaster. The situation has caused lots of damages to people’s lives, economic and social status on 9 out of 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta. Specifically, more than 70% rice farming land has been damaged in Ben Tre province. Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces have been affected since the late of 2015, the total area affected in these two provinces is nearly 85,000ha "- Minister Cao Duc Phat said.
Also according to the minister, the 2016 rainy season will arrive late, thus the salinisation is likely to prolong until the early of May 2016, about two months longer than the same period of 2015. Therefore, in the short-term, the minister requested local authourities to build temporary dams and pumping stations, dredge canals for local people and report the situation to relevant authorities at higher level.
Particularly MARD asked the Government to support 215 billions VND for the localties to purchase cultivation seeds to restore production in damaged areas as well as grant advanced emergency aids responding to drought and saltwater intrusion to the localities.
In addition, MARD also asked the Government to prioritize 1,060 billions VND to invest in some infrastructures which help prevent drought and saltwater intrusion, and another 8,000 billions VND for interregional key projects.
Facing this situation, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged local authorities to protect the winter-spring rice area about to be harvested. "The whole region had 140,000ha of damaged rice. Currently we have harvested over 40% of 2015-2016 winter-spring crop, and we have to protect the remaining to prevent further damages. The local authorities have announced disaster losses; I am going to sign the supporting decision to transfer this funding to people timely, "- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also said that in 2015, the government has forecasted the impacts of El-Nino on people economies. Addtionally, he requested the Ministries, department and localities to inform people, implement preventive measures to minimize losses caused by drought and saltwater intrusion. The Prime Minister demanded local authorities to work closely with local people, increase constructive dialogues, offer reasonable solutions to protect the unaffected fruit tree and aquatic area. Particularly as for local authorities, which announced disaster but not yet reported losses to the Government (Tien Giang, Long An, Hau Giang), have to implement quickly.
"Our overall goal is to reduce damages for people , overcome difficulties , restore production and stabilize their lives" - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said.