VietNamNet Bridge - Fields are cracked, flowers wither, coffee gardens are burned, people have to skim sips of water from the Ba River to use… This is the current situation of people in the Central Highlands in this year's drought.

According to the Gia Lai Provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, at the end of February 2013, the province had 8,430 households (33,850 people) suffered from hunger.

Gia Lai has placed VND6.3 billion (US$302,400) from budget funds to purchase rice for 8,434 households whose crops have been totally destroyed from the ongoing drought. Farmers will also be assisted with VND3.7 billion ($178,000) to purchase saplings to resume cultivation in areas affected by drought since last year.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Kon Tum Province, it has over 1,000 hectares of crops harmed by drought, including about 800 ha of rice. The damage is estimated at VND80 billion ($4 million). Currently, many reservoirs and about 1,000 wells in the province are dried to the bottom, with about 300 households lacking water.

Mr. Pham Vu Tuan, Head of the Meteorological and Hydrological Forecasts Station of the Central Highlands, says if by the end of April, the situation does not improve, the Central Highlands will face a very serious drought.

In this situation, the authorities of Central Highlands provinces have mobilized all forces to dredge canals and repair irrigation works.
 

In Gia Lai Province, as being reported by the local Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the province has more than 1,560 hectares of crops suffer from were drought, including more than 1,100 hectares of rice.

Nearly 600 hectares of crops have been destroyed because of prolonged drought.

Dried coffee trees.

Water levels in many rivers, streams and reservoirs are very low, or even dried up. In the photo: The downstream of the Ba River (Gia Lai).

Drought has not only caused economic losses but also greatly affected the life of many families due to the lack of clean water.

They have to dig holes in the sand bank along the Ba River to collect water.

The sand bank with interlaced "wells".

Children are also mobilized to fight drought.