VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese scientists and managers have still been unable to map out a complete scenario to help the Mekong Delta achieve sustainable agricultural development against climate change despite the matter’s urgency, heard a seminar in Can Tho City on Monday.

At the seminar “Climate Change Response for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in the Mekong Delta”, Kosei Hashiguchi of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) presented the project “Climate Change Adaptation in the Mekong Delta’s Coastal Regions”. This project is being conducted by JICA.

Hashiguchi noted that seven coastal provinces of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Vinh Long, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang will be the most vulnerable to salinity intrusion and rising seawater.

Temperature in the delta has increased 0.5-0.9 degree Celsius in the past 30 years and it is expected to go up 0.2-0.3 degree Celsius every ten years in the future, Hashiguchi said. Meanwhile, seawater level over the past decade has surged five centimeters and it will go up eight centimeters every ten years in the future, he added.

Hashiguchi warned that paddy yield will gradually fall given higher temperature, with a respective contraction of 10%, 15% and 25% in output volume by 2030, 2050 and 2100.

Do Minh Nhut, deputy director of Kien Giang Province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, told the seminar that salinity intrusion and rising seawater will badly affect one-third of paddy farming area in the province.

Rice farming in coastal areas will suffer the most, he asserted.

At the seminar, several participants pointed out that the project of JICA has yet to provide a far-reaching perspective.

Nguyen Van Hoa, deputy director of the Southern Fruit Research Institute, said JICA in the project only focuses on protecting paddy while failing to protect fruit crops that are also vulnerable to climate change in the region. He suggested adding climate change’s impacts on the regional fruit crops into the project.

Source: SGT