Hoan on June 4 answered questions from National Assembly deputies about water reservoirs, drought and saline intrusion in the Mekong Delta.

Hoan confirmed that landslides have a big impact on people’s daily life. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has taken an inspection trip to the sites and assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to submit a plan to deal with the problem. 

His ministry will submit the plan in September, with a more comprehensive and strategic approach related to the problems of drought and saline intrusion.

The ministry is also going to ask for Prime Minister's permission to consult with experts in Hanoi and HCM City in September; and organize a forum to be presided over by the PM, where leaders, experts and scientists of 13 Mekong Delta provinces will meet and discuss the issues.

Hoan cited international reports as saying "we are in an era of global drought”, which means that drought and water shortages occur not only in Vietnam.

According to the minister, it is necessary to consider water volume, water quality and ways to use water sources. Of these, the way of using water will have ab impact on water volume and quality.

He said "we are still not considering water as a resource, though we say ‘water resources’ and we think water is limitless".

Amid climate change and challenges from water use, water is a limited natural resource, and it is necessary to approach agriculture with water shortages in mind.

Hoan cited Israel, a country with strong agriculture which has a water saving culture. He said Vietnam needs to make a declaration to farmers that Vietnam is not a country with abundant water, and that natural resource will be getting more scarce in the future.

And if so, Vietnam needs to change its short-term and long-term approach to agricultural production. Instead of flush irrigation, Vietnam needs to shift to drip irrigation.

Hoan said that water savings will influence greenhouse gas emissions as well as the government project on developing 1 million hectares of high-quality rice. 

Citing solutions to saline intrusion and freshwater saving, MARD will ask the government to give priority to water reservoir projects in Mekong Delta.

Quang Phong - Thu Hang - Tran Thuong