Ninh Thuan (VNS/VNA) - Farmers in Ninh Thuan are not growing anysummer – autumn crop on more than 1,500ha of land due to lack of water,according to the south-central province’s Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment.

The province, which gets the lowest amount of rainfall in the country, plans tocrop 30,000ha, including 13,500ha of rice.

To ensure irrigation, the department has instructed farmers to only grow ricein areas where they can actively manage water.

These areas are in Ninh Phuoc, Ninh Hai and Ninh Son districts, Phan Rang – ThapCham city and upstream in some other districts.

The province’s 21 reservoirs now have 107 million cubic metres of water instorage against their capacity of 194.5 million cu.m, according to theprovince’s Irrigation Works Exploitation One-Member Company.

Of the reservoirs, 10 have less than 1 million cu.m each.

The Don Duong Reservoir in neighbouring Lam Dong province, which provides waterfor irrigation and household use in many districts in Ninh Thuan, has only 43million cu.m compared to its capacity of 165 million cu.m.

If rains do not bring water to this reservoir, Ninh Thuan faces the risk ofwater shortage until the end of the crop, the company said.

Pham Dung, head of the province’s Plant Cultivation and ProtectionSub-department, said the People’s Committee has instructed localities not togrow crops in areas where they cannot actively manage water.

Water in the reservoirs is carefully managed, with priority given to householdand animals, and therefore farmers in many areas have stopped cropping, hesaid.

The sub-department has instructed farmers to restructure their crops to suittheir farming conditions.

The province plans to grow other crops on 940ha of paddies this summer-autumnand has cropped 560ha so far, according to the sub-department.

To cope with drought, the province has in recent years switched to high-valuefruits that can grow in dry areas.

Under a plan to restructure agriculture by 2030, the province seeks to increasefruit production, perennial industrial trees and vegetables and reduce foodcrops like rice.

The province is focusing on developing grape and jujube cultivation in Ninh Hai,Ninh Phuoc and Ninh Son districts and Phan Rang – Thap Cham city. 

It hopes to have 2,000ha under grapes and an annual output of 50,000 tonnesnext year and 1,200ha under jujube and output of 55,000 tonnes.

It is also developing durian, avocado, rambutan and mangosteen cultivation inNinh Son district, xiem coconut, grown for juice, in Ninh Hai and Thuan Namdistricts, soursop and green-peel and pink-flesh grapefruit in Thuan Bac and BacAi districts.

Pi Nang, who converted his 5,000sq.m corn field into a green-peel andpink-flesh grapefruit orchard in Bac Ai’s Phuoc Binh commune five years ago,said in the past he had to stop growing corn in the dry season because of lackof water. 

His orchard is fruiting now, and he usually earns 70 million VND (3,000 USD)per crop, he said. 

Grapefruit is easy to grow, affected by few diseases and suitable for growingin his commune, he said.

Besides, the entire harvest is snapped up by traders because of high demand, headded.

Pham Hung Bao Chau, deputy chairman of the Phuoc Binh People’s Committee, saidhis commune has zoned areas for fruits like green-peel and pink-fleshgrapefruits, durian, avocado, banana, and jackfruit to restructure agriculture.

The fruits have high value and the weather and soil conditions in the communesuit them, he said.

They have stable and high yields because farmers use advanced farmingtechniques, he added.

The province encourages farmers to use water-efficient irrigation equipment andgrow crops to Vietnamese good agricultural practice standards.

The province has more than 5,950ha under fruits, according to the department. –VNS/VNA