Dozens of hectares of rice fields in Đà Nẵng City have withered due to saltwater intrusion. — Photo laodong.vn

ĐÀ NẴNG — Dozens of hectares of rice fields in the Đà Nẵng City area have withered due to saltwater intrusion.

The district People's Committee has actively pumped fresh water to save the rice, but the situation has not improved. Affected areas include the communes of Hòa Phong, Hòa Nhơn and Hòa Tiến in Hòa Vang District, Đà Nẵng City.

In Cẩm Toại Đông Village in Hòa Phong Commune, vast fields have now turned into barren lands.

A farmer who wished to remain anonymous said she cultivated one hectare in the Cẩm Toại Đông Village fields, but due to saltwater contamination 60 per cent of her crop has been lost.

She re-sowed for a second time, but the results remained unfavourable, Lao động (Labour) online newspaper reported.

She said "For every 0.1ha, we sow 7-8kg of rice seeds. Now with 0.6ha of rice dried up, the loss is significant."

She and many surrounding farmers have brought young rice plants from other non-contaminated fields to replant in their own fields.

Công, head of Group 3 in Cẩm Toại Đông village said: "This is the first time our fields have experienced saltwater intrusion. One of the reasons is that the irrigation water is drawn from the Yên River."

He added that all fields irrigated with water from the Yên River were experiencing total crop failure, with barren fields and hectares of withered rice.

Many people, after re-sowing for the second time without favourable results, have abandoned their fields.

According to the district People's Committee, the summer-autumn crop plan for 2024 includes sowing 2,061ha.

So far, 99.8 per cent has been sown.

However, due to the effects of El Niño, areas irrigated from the Yên River, Cầu Đỏ River and Túy Loan River are experiencing saltwater contamination, causing toxicity to the rice plants.

Currently, around 56.35ha of rice have been damaged across the district, concentrated in the communes of Hòa Tiến, Hòa Phong and Hòa Nhơn. — VNS