Ninh Thuan Province is under the worst impact of the current drought. The Government Electronic Newspaper Journalist had talks with Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee, Mr. Tran Quoc Nam on measures that local governments has to take to cope with this situation.

Question: The drought has been going on severely in Ninh Thuan. How did it exert its impacts on the lives and production of local population, sir?

Mr. Tran Quoc Nam: During 2015 and in early 2016, Ninh Thuan province has experienced the most severe drought for many years, causing water shortages for domestic activities and production in many localities. Crop and cultivation area has been damaged, with stopped production in several places. In many areas, the agricultural production could not have been possible for 5 continuous crops.

In 2015, our province could cultivate only 15,000 hectares of rice production, the total loss is estimated at about VND240 billion. Rice area is at risk of loss in the 2015-2016 winter-spring crop due to lack of irrigation water over 67 hectares. Cattle, by the end of March, are foreseen to lack food and drinking water.

Question: What are the immediate solutions and long-term prevention projected forward by the provincial authority, sir?

Vice Chairman Tran Quoc Nam Ninh Thuan province. 

Mr. Tran Quoc Nam: Facing this severe drought, the government has provided directives and supports; the central and provincial authorities have also implemented various supportive measures such as water supply for domestic use, migrating the cattle herds to areas with favorable conditions, meanwhile, instructing the people to restructure the planting and animal raising, for example, in the places of scanty water sources, drought-resistant plants are recommended for cultivation.

In 2015, over 2,000 hectares of rice were shifted to cultivation of drought-resistant plants which need less water, such as hybrid corn, green beans, grass for fodder.  This solution has initially limited the damage to agricultural production and husbandry.

In 2016, according to weather forecasts, the situation of water scarcity and droughts will be more intense as compared to that in 2015. Currently, the reserved water in the reservoirs is about 58 million m3, equivalent to 30% of designed capacity. With this amount of water, it would be very difficult to meet the winter-spring crop production, which is not to mention the other subordinate crops in the year.

In such a context, our provincial authority emphasizes the priorities given to water savings, restructuring the crops and livestock. Particularly, in this winter-spring crop, the province continues to shift crop structure over 1,000 hectares of water stricken area; continue to expand the model of economical watering in some areas of dry conditions; to facilitate the sharing of water, to save water for domestic use, and drinking water for livestock.

At the same time, we also focus on supporting the people who are in lack of potable water, to realize the government’s mandatory guidance that people must not be left thirsty, cattle herd must not be left dying, epidemic outbreaks must not be left prevailing, the damage caused by drought must be mitigated. We have been very drastic in our guidance and implementation.

In the time to come, we continue to enhance, direct and review the key areas of drought, the lack of water for drinking and domestic use , so that options for water supply could be worked out to support the farmers.

For the livelihood of people, by the end of 2015, the province has proposed the Central government to supports over 2,000 tons of rice. This subsidy rice was delivered to the people in time for the Lunar New Year in 2016 and during the drought production downtime .

Ninh Thuan has a quite large herds, which is the main source of income for farmers without agricultural production. For areas with large herds, we plan to move the herd to places where there is water.

Besides, we will try to make full use of irrigation works supported by the central government, such as the Tan My Irrigation Scheme and the interconnection field canals.

Question: How is it deployed and going with the awareness of the people in the term of drought mitigation, prevention, water conservation, as well as adaptation to climate change, sir?

Mr. Tran Quoc Nam:  Ninh Thuan people have been, for a long time, familiar with prolonged drought, so their awareness in terms of mitigation and prevention, water conservation, as well as adaptation to climate change was also raised.

In addition, along with the guidance from the Central Government and the local authority in the province, people were aware of the situation and they themselves restructured the crops and livestock. The plant restructuring, and new livestock are meant for water saving in domestic and production activities.

On the side of the province, we shall continue to strengthen the communication with the public, to enhance the people's awareness about the situation of drought, so that the people are not indifferent to the situation, to mitigate the damages.

We will also promote the communication and implementation of the restructuring of plants to apply the water saving irrigation technology in production. The people are instructed to replicate the model of drought-resistant plants to solve the issue of generating income, to make use of the processed by-products for reserved fodder in drought conditions.

Sincerely thank you! 

The Army of Military Zone 5 bring clean water to people in drought areas of Ninh Thuan. Facing the prolonged drought which caused significantly negative impact on the lives of the people in Ninh Thuan province, on March 1st , 2016 The Army of Military Zone 5 commanded its relevant authorities to coordinate with Ninh Thuan Provincial Military Headquarters and provincial governments to deliver potable clean water to the people in Nhon Hai commune, Ninh Hai district. Mr. Nguyen Khac Hoa, the Vice Chairman of Ninh Hai district said: “Nhon Hai Commune is one of the most severely affected areas, suffering the prolonged drought from late 2014 to the present. The commune has the Ong Kinh lake, which is the only place with water supply for domestic use and production. But the reservoir bottom became inertly dry from early 2016. In the previous year, water could be found at the depth of only 4-5 meters of wells, but from 2015 until now many families tried to bore the ground at 40-50 meters in depth, but still no water was found. Nhon Hai Commune has 5 hamlets, and among them Khanh Tan hamlet with its 224 households and 880 persons suffered the drought most, with people facing water shortages for drinking for many months. Although the local authority financially support the people to buy water, but due to the prolonged drought, it has been very arduous, which needs the help of various levels and sectors. In the spirit of "not to leave the people in lack of water and food", the Army of Military Zone 5 mobilized 3 water trucks (2 from Army of Military Zone 5 and 1 water truck from Ninh Thuan Provincial Military Headquarters) and 20 staff and soldiers to deliver the fresh water free of charge to farmers in drought areas of the province of Ninh Thuan. For immediate response, the free fresh water supply for the local people in the water shortage in Ninh Thuan Province as a program will last for 30 successive days.

Trong Tan