Drought pushes Vietnam’s rice farmers to try different crops

“I have four children, but the income isn’t enough to support their education,” says Truong Dieu, a 41-year-old rice farmer.

Dieu lives with her four children, husband, parents and in-laws in a palm-thatched hut a kilometre from their field. 

With the water not reaching her irrigation ditches this year, Dieu says her family has been unable to grow a crop this season. 

To make ends meet, they’ve been raising chickens and labouring on others’ fields.

The Mekong Delta, home to around 20 million people, is the rice bowl of the country. Around 25 million tonnes are produced annually, accounting for 55 per cent of the nation’s rice needs and 90 per cent of its exports.

Can Tho, 170 kilometres southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, is Vietnam’s fourth largest city and the delta’s economic hub.

But this year around 100,000 hectares of the delta’s 1.7 million hectares of rice paddies have been destroyed by drought and a further 140,000 hectares have been damaged, according to government statistics. Output for the year is expected to be only 23 million tonnes, a drop of nearly 10 per cent, says Dr Bui Chi Buu, former director of the Institute of Agricultural Science for Southern Vietnam.

While scientists blame the naturally occurring El Nino weather phenomenon for the drought, Buu says the situation is exacerbated by human activity. He adds that seawater intrusion resulting from lower river-water levels is worsened by a combination of upstream damming in China and Laos, poor water resource management and climate change. A partial solution, he suggests, is for farmers in the delta to switch from growing rice to fruit in areas where the water is dropping but still fresh.

“Tropical fruits are very diverse and suitable in freshwater areas,” he explains.

Le Hong, a 48-year-old farmer, says she is the last in her village to grow rice as others switch to fruit trees.

“Trees you just irrigate in the dry season and in the rainy season they don’t need a lot of water,” she says on her break from sorting rice at her family’s village shop outside Can Tho. She adds that there is widespread anxiety in the community over the threat of climate change.

Cultivating fruit trees, homestays

“In the past in May, we had rain, so I recognise the changes in the environment,” she says. Her daughter, who attends university in Can Tho, has encouraged her to shift towards tourism.

“My daughter says that since I have a big farm with a lot of trees, I can make a homestay. But I’m very busy growing rice and planting trees,” she says. “I worry a lot, but I don’t want to change.”

Those who have switched to fruit farming report mixed results. Can Tho fruit farmer Le Ut, 70, says his durian profits have actually increased thanks to a 50-per-cent rise in wholesale prices. His orchard is in full bloom with plump green durian fruit ripening on the branches. By digging the pond below water level and allowing water to seep in from the Mekong, Ut says he managed to keep his trees blooming this year.

“My land doesn’t need any more water, so I don’t worry a lot about the drought,” he says over iced coffee at a village cafe. Not all of his neighbours have been so lucky. Tran Thanh, 53, is ready to give up growing pomelos and mangoes altogether after tilling the land for 30 years.

“I want to sell this house and move into the city, because this place is not good for making a living,” he says, adding that there isn’t enough water to go around.