VietNamNet Bridge – It is at the end of the rainy season, but the central region is still in hot weather. Millions of farmers are facing the risk of having a bad crop owing to drought and rampant pests.




Normally, at the end of November, lakes and rivers in Quang Ngai province are usually full of water but this year most of them are dry. At present, the Tra Khuc River, in the city of Quang Ngai, looks like a vast "desert".

Mr. Nguyen Nhung, Director of the Quang Ngai Province Irrigation Company said this is the driest rainy season in the province in the last 20 years. The local authorities have called for farmers to dredge canals and save water to fight drought.

"Normally, in this season the weather is cold but at present, the temperature is up to 34 degrees Celsius. The average temperature in November of this year is the highest since 1958 while the rainfall is only 20-40% compared to the average of the previous years," said Mr. Nham Xuan Sy, Director of the Quang Ngai Center for Hydrometeorology.

In the countryside, anywhere one can hear farmers complaining about drought and the fear of having a poor crop.

Mr. Phan Trong Ho, Director of the Binh Dinh Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the risk of drought in the coming winter-spring crop and the entire 2013 is very large. About 3,300-4,300 ha of winter-spring rice are more likely to become dehydrated. Binh Dinh is working on a water distribution plan for next year, which gives priority to supplying water to daily activities, livestock, aquaculture, breeding rice production areas and key rice planting area.

Meanwhile, in Phu Yen province, the Ba Ha River Hydropower Plant cannot generate power because the water level in its reservoir has dropped to the dead level.

Mr. Dang Van Tuan, Chairman and CEO of the Ba Ha River Hydropower JSC said since the plant was put into operation, this is the first time it lacks water in the rainy season.

According to Tuan, the plant does not have water to produce electricity and to discharge to the Ba River so the pumping stations in the lower area cannot work, affecting hundreds of hectares of rice. Especially, if this situation prolongs, the water plant in Son Hoa district will have to stop operation and nearly 10,000 households will face water shortage.

In a similar circumstance, thousands of residents living along the Thu Bon River in Quang Nam province are worrying about the abnormal weather. As many large hydropower plants in the area store water to generate electricity, water shortages in the downstream region becomes more serious.

The life and production of nearly 1.7 million people in the downstream area of Vu Gia - Thu Bon Rivers in Quang Nam and Da Nang city are highly dependent on the flow of water discharged from the upstream hydroelectric power plants.

Mr. Huynh Van Thang, Deputy Director of the Da Nang Agriculture and Rural Development said that it is inadequate that the local government has to ask for water discharge from upstream hydroelectric plants. It is necessary to have a river basin management committee to supervise the operation of hydropower plants.

According to the National Center for Meteorological Forecasts, the rainfall in the central region depends on storms, tropical depressions and the northeast monsoon. This year the region does not have many tropical cyclones and monsoons, resulted in abnormal drought. From now until the end of the year, the central region will still suffer from dry weather because there will have only one tropical depression.

Compiled by Thu Ha