To ensure rural residents have access to fresh water in the 2021-2025 period, localities in the Mekong Delta will require an investment of VND5 trillion.

All residents in rural areas of the Mekong Delta must have access to clean water, Nguyen Hoang Hiep, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said at a seminar held in Soc Trang Province on Wednesday (May 27).

Depression has already occurred in many places in the coastal provinces of Ca Mau and Kien Giang in the Mekong Delta during the severe drought season this year, 

The Mekong Delta province of Long An, which has been hit by severe drought this year, needs more fresh water, but can only supply about 50 percent of demand from its 35 fresh water treatment plants and stations.

The healthcare system in the Mekong Delta has been steadily expanding and becoming increasingly sophisticated, and the large number of choices available now is helping reduce overcrowding at HCM City hospitals.

Vinh Long Province People's Committee announced that they had approved construction of the VND400bn ($17m) Mekong Delta Agriculture Museum on May 15.

Voices, opinions, and experiences from the local community and experts should be taken seriously for any policy making process.

Analysts believe that Vietnam’s seafood industry will face difficulties until the end of June.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of rice in enterprises’ storehouses cannot be exported because of inconsistent policies.

Officials from provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta – the country’s rice granary - and rice exporters have urged the government to resume rice exports without setting limits, saying many firms face difficulties because of this.

The Vietnamese government has decided to resume rice exports, but the debate continues about whether the country should continue to do so.

Scientists predict that in 50-100 years, the Mekong Delta may be one meter below the sea water level because of climate change.

Pink shower blossoms (O moi in Vietnamese) are dubbed by locals as ‘Southwestern region’s cherry blossoms’. They are mainly seen in Phu Tan, Long Xuyen and Thoai Son districts in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.

The Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang plans to grow other crops on around 4,000ha of fields which only grow one rice crop a year or are unproductive by 2030.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that the total catfish output in the world will reach 3 million tons in 2020, of which 50 percent is from Vietnam.

Authorities have instructed farmers in the Mekong Delta to sow the summer – autumn rice crop on established schedules to mitigate the damage of drought, saltwater intrusion and disease.

Since drought and saltwater intrusion are becoming severe in the Mekong Delta in the dry season, localities in the region have actively developed plans, scenarios, and implemented solutions to prevent and control drought and saltwater intrusion.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong wants countrywide improvements in developing plans to respond to natural disasters.

The Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang has declared a state of emergency after drought and saltwater intrusion hit the region, strongly affecting local residents’ lives and production.

Many universities in HCM City plan to provide scholarships to students whose families’ livelihoods have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic or who live in the Mekong Delta and are affected by drought and saltwater intrusion.