Waters from the burst dam in Laos have arrived in Vietnam, devastating crops in the Mekong delta.
Flooding has ruined thousands of hectares of agricultural land in An Giang, Dong Thap and Long An provinces, according to VnExpress. Water levels in Mekong tributaries have been rising seven to ten centimeters a day, causing production levels to fall by 30% due to the torrent of water released by a collapsed dam in southeastern Laos on June 27.
The drenched fields are forcing people to prematurely harvest their crops at drastically reduced prices. Local farmer Nguyen Van Dong explained, “Distributors pre-ordered at a great price before the flood hit, but since we had to harvest when the rice was yet fully grown, [the] price has dropped VND1,000 per kilogram.” Others are not even so lucky and have been unable to sell any of their wrecked cassava. The area is currently in the middle of the summer-autumn season.
Citizens were caught unprepared for the waters, which arrived before the typical flood season which was "previously forecast to begin around August 5-7, but the water from Laos made it start sooner," according to Tran Xuan Dinh, deputy head of the Department of Crop Production under Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Any retroactive measures such as pumping the water will come at potentially too high a cost compared to what crops can be sold for.
Le Khuong Binh, director of the Hydro-Meteorological Station of Dong Thap expects the waters to continue rising significantly, saying that "people need to harvest their crops early to reduce damage."
Vietnam is the world's third-largest exporter of rice and experts do not expect the situation to cause significant impact to its global output this year. However, experts incorrectly predicted last week that the burst dam would have no impact on the delta.
The dam burst is significantly affecting Vietnam's neighbors. In Laos, 27 were killed and thousands displaced by the surge of released water that swallowed homes and infrastructure and sent people scrambling for food, medicine and shelter. Overwhelmed rivers in Cambodia have also resulted in large-scale displacement and agricultural devastation. The situation is calling into question Southeast Asia's bold hydroelectric ambitions.
[Photo by Cuu Long via VnExpress]
