A farmer in Thanh Hoa province in her dried rice field. (Photo: vov.vn)

Thousands of hectares of rice have been lost because of the prolonged hot weather, while many rice fields have been abandoned due to lack of water. Saline intrusion was affecting many areas.

Thanh Hoa province had planted more than 112,000ha of rice out of total 116,000ha.

According to the Thanh Hoa Irrigation Sub-department, water levels in 241 out of 610 reservoirs have fallen, with some reservoirs drying up.

At present, 7,500ha of rice lacked water. The local authorities had to install hundreds of pumps to save the crops.

In coastal districts of Quang Xuong and Tinh Gia, the saline intrusion occurred along the Y and Hoang Rivers. Pumping water from the rivers to rice fields was risky.

In the difficult situation, the farmers were asked not to continue planting rice on the remaining fields.

Dang Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: “The remaining water was just used for the current rice fields. For areas at high-risk of water shortage, the local farmers should change to other crops.”

Meanwhile, in Ha Tinh province, the hot weather and drought had caused many crops to wither.

Huong Khe and Huong Son districts are the localities facing the worst drought.

The local government and agriculture and rural development department had carried out measures on drought control such as dredging canals and digging wells.

Similar to Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh provinces, Nghe An had faced seven bouts of hot weather since earlier this year.

In May and June, temperatures hit 39.5 to 41.5 degrees Celsius. The heatwaves caused severe drought and water shortages, causing difficulties for residents.

So far, about 13,000ha of rice crop had lacked water because hundreds of dams, lakes and reservoirs was drying up./. VNA