Agriculture is one of the potentials and strengths of Nghe An, as the province has a large agricultural land area that is among the top in Vietnam (1,249,176ha) and is evenly distributed in the mountainous, midland, and coastal plains. However, Nghe An’s large agricultural area is also a challenge for the already degraded irrigation system in localities.
Understanding this difficulty, JICA has supported Nghe An province in the Project of Restoring and Upgrading Northern Nghe An Irrigation System (JICA2), with a total investment of more than 5,700 billion VND, of which JICA sponsored 84.27 %, the implementation period lasted for 7 years (2013-2019). The completed project will provide adequate irrigation water for 27,656 hectares of agricultural land; dredging main drainage axes, upgrading, and expanding Dien Thanh sluice to drain and reduce flooding for 1,920 ha in low-lying areas in 2 districts of Yen Thanh and Dien Chau.
JICA Advisor for Agri-Business (PPP) Promotion and Development - Mr. Morita had the opportunity to observe completed facilities of the project, before the inauguration ceremony in November, this year.
In general, the Northern Nghe An Irrigation Restoring and Upgrading Project has basically solved many shortcomings, especially the problems of small canals design and operation management. With a system of wide canals and large culverts, farmers can now get enough water in a short time without waiting for water to alternately irrigate as before.