Bac Lieu focuses on irrigation infrastructure as a 'lever' for agriculture development

Why is it necessary to have irrigation planning soon?

Irrigation infrastructure for production, agricultural and rural development plays an extremely important role. Especially, with specific ecological conditions in Bac Lieu province, both supplying fresh water for rice production and saltwater for shrimp farming, it is necessary to have a plan and strategy to renovate and upgrade irrigation facilities for agricultural production in a long-term and sustainable vision.

This target is not easy to achieve if the irrigation infrastructure is not getting fully investment. In the past 5 years, Bac Lieu Province has dredged more than 2,290 irrigation works, with a length of more than 4,570km, a volume of 10.19 million cubic meters, and a total investment capital of over VND623 billion.

Basically, the irrigation system in Bac Lieu has completed the main canal, level 1 canal, level 2, and level 3 canal beyond the level for the production conversion in the northern sub-region of National Highway 1A.

However, for the southern area of National Highway 1A, it is still limited and has not been able to meet local demands of agricultural development, especially those in shrimp farming because of the relatively fast growth rate of intensive and super-intensive shrimp farming modelS in rural areas meeting the important goal of turning Bac Lieu into an industrial center of the country under the direction of the Prime Minister.

Therefore, surveys show that in-field irrigation works only supply about 80-85% for the production conversion in the northern sub-region and about 75-80% for the southern area of ​​National Highway 1A.

However, in general, investing in infrastructure for the development of production in recent years is still weak and not adequate. In particular, mainly in production conversion areas, the situation of shrimp "thirsting for saltwater", rice plants "waiting for sweet" when drought and saltwater intrusion still need more radical solutions.

Also, production areas in the south of National Highway 1A face rapid development of shrimp farming models that have led to quite serious environmental pollution and this is also due to rapid sedimentation of irrigation canal systems in many places. Irrigation has not been effectively invested or due to the local discharging waste still happening...

Understanding the important role of renovating and upgrading irrigation systems for sustainable agricultural production, along with investment projects of Bac Lieu province, many localities have also mobilized a lot of investment resources for irrigation infrastructure.

In Hong Dan District, since 2016, the authority has called for investment in projects on the construction of irrigation works for production and local life with a total investment of more than VND350 billion.

Up to now, Hong Dan District has carried out regular dredging of level 3 canals and the in-field irrigation works in the district. It has invested in building a system of sluices to separate salt and fresh water preventing saline intrusion and ensuring freshwater storage for nearly 9,000ha of rice, vegetables, and fruit trees with high yield and good quality.

The district has built a dike around the Cai Lon River belt in the stable freshwater area and constructed rice shrimp infrastructure works in Vinh Loc, Ninh Thanh Loi, and Vinh Loc A communes. Besides, Hong Dan District also invested in building 19 electric pumping stations to concentrate on serving rice cultivation in the stable freshwater areas.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thoi, Chairman of Hong Dan District People's Committee, affirmed that the good performance in managing and protecting irrigation works to timely operate and compliance with the processing and constructing rules to ensure the prevention of drought and saltwater intrusion in the locality in the recent time has been effectively promoted...

In Hoa Binh District, in order to better serve aquaculture, this locality has implemented many projects on infrastructure for shrimp farming with a total investment of hundreds of billions of dongs such as those for the intensive - semi-intensive shrimp farming in communes of Vinh My A, Vinh Hau, Vinh Thinh, and Vinh Hau A...

Up to now, the in-field irrigation system in the district meets about 90-95% of storing fresh water stably serving for the area in the north of National Highway 1A and about 80% for the southern area of ​​National Highway 1A in the district.

Mr. Pham Van Thieu, Chairman of Bac Lieu Provincial People's Committee, said the province is proposing to issue a resolution on infrastructure development in the province including infrastructure for agricultural production with a basic goal to complete a system of main canals and canals level 1 and two for the sub-region to maintain the stability of freshwater storage in the northern production sub-region of the National Highway 1A.

The system of the sea and river dykes should ensure the minimum resistance to grade 9 storms and tides with a frequency of 5%, At the same time, it should meet demands in the supply and drainage of water for agricultural production and basically solve the difficulties affected by high tides, drought, and saline intrusion...

According to Mr. Thieu, this resolution on infrastructure development promises to create a new impetus for agricultural production to develop, especially the strength in aquaculture.