Forum on Mekong Delta’s agriculture's climate change adaptation
VOV.VN - A forum was held in Hau Giang province on February 19 to discuss measures to adapt the Mekong Delta’s agricultural activities to the impacts of climate change, especially drought and saltwater intrusion.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) called for an urgent solution is to swiftly restructure the cultivation schedule and prioritise short-term rice varieties.
In the long term, it is necessary to develop drought and saltwater-resistant crops and trees. Local cultivation practices also need to be changed to cope with expected sea level rise.Climate change has been seriously impacting the Mekong Delta in recent years, resulting in drought and saltwater intrusion over hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland, said MARD Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh said.
Phan Huy Thong, Director of the National Agricultural Extension Centre, said more than 1.5 million ha of rice were planted in the region in the 2015 – 2016 winter-spring crop.
Among 340,000 ha prone to drought and saltwater intrusion, 104,000 ha have been adversely affected mostly in the provinces of Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Kien Giang and Hau Giang.
A widespread area of fruit trees in Vinh Long, Hau Giang and Soc Trang provinces have also been threatened by the salinity of over three parts per thousand, Thong added