How have farmers in the Mekong Delta coped with the drought?

Since the beginning of April 2023, continuous heatwaves have occurred throughout the country, especially in the Mekong Delta. This has caused many difficulties in agricultural cultivation for farmers.  

However, with their extensive farming experience, Vietnamese farmers have developed many methods to cope with drought, enabling them to cultivate effectively and welcome the first rains of the season at the end of May. Let’s look back with Viet Nga at the efforts of Vietnamese farmers in conquering nature and not giving up in the face of difficulties.

1. Extreme weather conditions in Vietnam during the first months of 2023

Mr. Tran Hong Thai, Director General of the General Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), shared at the National Conference on Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue in 2023, held on the afternoon of April 20th: “The heatwave in 2023 has appeared early, and is predicted to be more intense and have more hot days than in 2022.”

Prolonged hot weather and temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius have led to many negative impacts on agricultural activities. In particular, saltwater intrusion and freshwater shortages for farming are alarming problems.

In fact, fruit and food crops are currently in the fruit-bearing and vigorous growth stages. Therefore, hot weather and unfavorable conditions will affect production progress and crop growth. For this reason, farmers need to take measures to cope with drought.

2. Measures taken by farmers in the Mekong Delta to cope with drought.

Being a low-lying, coastal area that has repeatedly suffered severe droughts, farmers in the Mekong Delta are very concerned and put a lot of effort into proactively implementing measures to cope with extreme hot weather.

Besides water conservation, choosing the right planting time and variety has played a crucial role in farmers’ response efforts. This summer-autumn crop season, due to severe drought and localized water shortages, hardy, drought-tolerant varieties such as OM 4218, OM 5451, and IR 50404 have been favored over varieties like ST 24, RVT, or Dai Thom 8 – rice varieties that require favorable weather conditions like the winter-spring crop.  

Proactively converting cultivated land to other crops is also a measure chosen by farmers.

In addition, farmers have also proactively changed the types of crops grown on their cultivated land. According to news reports, some farmers in Thanh Binh district, Dong Thap province, have proactively switched to growing corn this season because it is a drought-tolerant crop with relatively low water requirements but still yields good economic results.

The above are some of the methods that have helped farmers in the Mekong Delta cope with the drought season. Viet Nga Fertilizer hopes to soon receive good news about bountiful harvests from the farmers.