Mekong Delta Suffers $212M Losses Caused by Drought, Salinization

The Mekong Delta, the biggest agricultural areas in Vietnam, has incurred losses of nearly VND4.73 trillion ($212.06 million) due to the long-lasting drought and salinization which started in November last year. Specifically, saltwater intrusion and drought destroyed over 221, 000 hectares of rice, 6,568 ha of vegetable crops and 26,500 ha of fruit and cash crops, said the Steering Committee of West-southern Region. Around 225,800 families living in the provinces of the Mekong Delta faced to prolonged water shortage due to effect of the saltwater influx, especially 86,000 families in Ben Tre province, 43,000 households in Soc Trang province and 25,000 families in Kien Giang province. Recently, the provinces of the Mekong Delta started sowing summer-autumn rice crop, planting new vegetable crops, letting out shrimp in territorial waters of Tra Vinh, Ca Mau and Kien Giang province. A number of foreign countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Japan and South Korea and the EU have provided financial assistance for Vietnam to cope with consequences caused by the natural disaster which was caused by El Nino and the low water flow in the Mekong River due to giant hydropower dams of China and Laos in the upper stream of the river. (Saigon Giai Phong – Liberated Saigon June 23)