VietNamNet Bridge - Thousands of hectares of winter-spring crops in Dong Nai are facing a serious water shortage as the southern province has been suffering a prolonged drought for two months.

The threat of a bad harvest is hanging over the provincial farmers' heads as the drought is expected to become worse this summer, according to the Nhan Dan (The People) newspaper.

The water level in most of the reservoirs in the province was much lower than during the same period last year, said Dang Van Thang, head of Dong Nai's Irrigation Work Exploration MTV Company's Water Management Office.

The reservoirs, especially in districts of Tan Phu, Trang Bom and Xuan Loc, would be able to water the main winter-spring crops only, said Thang.

They were likely to run out of water for the late winter-spring and early spring-summer crops.

Aware of the situation, the province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development had defined the areas with irrigation systems to encourage farmers to plant crops, said Tran Dinh Minh, the department's director.

"We will do our best to help farmers in those areas (within the irrigation system) water their crops during the drought," said Minh. "But we have given a warning and have not assured help to those farmers in the areas outside the irrigation system."

However, some of the areas within the irrigation system face limited amounts of water as the reservoirs are getting dry.

To ensure that they have enough water, farmers have made their own wells and ponds to reserve water.

Fifty households in Tan Phu District made a 2,000sq.m pond to save water since the last rainy season, while farmers in Ta Lai Town spent their own money to build wells.

At the beginning of last year's dry season, the department created a plan to regulate irrigation in the province and promote water savings in the areas at a high risk of facing severe water shortages.

Farmers in those areas have been told to make temporary dams and reserve expenditures and equipment to deal with the drought.

Among other proposals, the department had told farmers to water and fertilise via pipe systems to help save 50 per cent of the water and ensure the sustainable development of crops, the department told Nhan Dan.

Farmers have also been advised not to plant rice on the fields without irrigation. They will receive a subsidy to convert their cultivation to other crops requiring less water.

Along with upgrading irrigation and collecting all water sources, the provincial department has been trying to ensure that farmers complete the planting of the winter-spring crops on schedule to avoid the worst stages of the drought.

There are more than 110 irrigation construction works in the province, but they are all working under their capacity, according to Nhan Dan.

These construction works can water only 10 per cent of the total 180,000ha of crops in need of water. Those irrigation works are also working ineffectively as they have been built to automatically irrigate.

Tan Phu District has 16 irrigation works which meet only 40 per cent of the need annually as most of them can operate at only 50 per cent of their designed capacity.

This has resulted in more than 6,000ha of cultivation land in the district being left fallow because of water shortage.

Other districts in Dong Nai Province are also facing the same problem.

The province, in an effort to address the issue, has planned until 2015 to build an addition of more than 75 irrigation projects with an investment of over VND1 billion (US$500,000).

The irrigation works will be built so that their full capacity can be used. They will also serve the purposes of irrigation and industrial water supply, as well as being pottable water providers.

Source: VNS