The drought in Southern Vietnam 2016 is a severe drought that took place in the Mekong basin, especially the Mekong Delta in early 2016. This is the most severe drought in the past 100 years.

During this drought, 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta were affected by saline intrusion. 10 provinces have declared natural disasters, of which many provinces have declared level 2. In many estuaries, the salinity has increased to more than 30g/l. 20 million people in the Mekong Delta have been affected. According to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, about 160,000 hectares of rice have been damaged, and an estimated 800,000 tons of rice have been lost. The most affected provinces in this drought are Kien Giang (more than 54,000 ha), Ca Mau (nearly 50,000 ha), Ben Tre nearly (14,000 ha), Bac Lieu nearly (12,000 ha).

The amount of water on ponds, lakes and irrigation works will be depleted and will cause great damage to the agricultural industry in the Central Highlands. By the end of March, the amount of damage caused by drought in the Central Highlands provinces was over 100 billion VND.

The Southern Institute of Irrigation Science said that drought and saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta could last until June until the next rainy season.

According to the analysis of experts, there are two main causes of this drought. The first reason is the influence of El Nino phenomenon leading to severe drought and much lower rainfall compared to other years. The second reason is that the amount of water flowing into the Mekong Delta from the Mekong River is sharply reduced due to the system of hydroelectric dams built by many countries on the main stream of the river as the main source of water for the Mekong Delta. Mekong Delta. Countries upstream of the Mekong River have been building dams to block the river and increase water use, opening up more irrigated agricultural lands and industrial clusters along the sides. The banks of the Mekong River also consume a lot of water… Dr. Duong Van Ni, lecturer at the Department of Environment, Can Tho University, said in a conference on hydropower dams held in Can Tho, six hydroelectric dams were built on Chinese territory. has retained a very large amount of water preventing it from flowing into the Mekong during the dry season.

It is necessary to more effectively integrate rural development with industrial, service and occupational development in order to create rural jobs. Address the rural workforce, in which the focus is on substantive vocational training. Enhancing the status of farmers and creating opportunities for them to participate in the process of rural industrialization and modernization