Overview:
Although the area for agricultural and fishery cultivation is less than 30% of the country, the Mekong Delta contributes more than 50% of the rice area, 71% of the aquaculture area, and 30% of the total agricultural production value of the country. Rice is grown the most in An Giang, Long An, Dong Thap and Tien Giang provinces. The average food per capita is 2.3 times higher than the national average. Thanks to that, the Mekong Delta is the main rice export region of the country. In addition, diverse fruit trees are the region's famous specialties, with quality increasingly improved over the years.
Achievements:
The Mekong Delta always contributes more than 50% of the total food output,
decisive for the successful implementation of the National food security strategy. The Mekong Delta always ranks first in the country in terms of output of rice, brackish shrimp, pangasius and fruit, with 24.51 million tons of rice, accounting for 56% of the country's total output; 671.7 thousand tons of shrimp, accounting for 83.51%; 1.41 million tons of pangasius, accounting for 98% and 4.3 million tons of fruit, accounting for 60%. The Mekong Delta accounts for the majority of rice exports (more than 90%), from 2010 to present each year on average exports 6-7 million tons. At the same time, the Mekong Delta also provides about 70% of the fruit, over 40% of the catch and 75% of the country's aquaculture production.
Challenges:
Salination
Located in the lower Mekong Delta, inheriting many advantages from its geographical location, abundant water resources and naturally regulated by Tonle Sap Lake; The vast coastline and sea are rich in resources, the land is flat, fertile and is deposited annually by alluvium, the aquatic resources are abundant with many species..., but the Mekong Delta always faces many challenges. difficulties and limitations in natural conditions, with significant and unpredictable impacts from climate change and activities upstream, with sea level rise and increasingly severe saltwater intrusion, and above all with the contradictions between economic growth and environmental protection right in this delta.
Terrain: In the Mekong Delta, the terrain is quite low; the average altitude is only 3-5 m, in some places it is only 0.5-1 m above sea level.
Water polution
With the current system of flood control, salinity control infrastructure and rice intensification in the Mekong Delta, some areas are facing difficulties in local flooding due to the inability to drain water when the tide is high and the flow is low. up fast. Some areas of the Ca Mau peninsula continue to be at risk of increasingly severe dry season freshwater shortages away from major tributaries. Along with that, the lack of waste treatment in the intensive rice and aquaculture farming system, polluting surface water (including rainwater) leads to increased groundwater extraction and further subsidence.
Aim for future
For the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta, it is extremely important to study synchronous solutions to deal with water-related disasters. These solutions are implemented at many different levels and scales, corresponding to the whole Mekong basin, the whole Mekong Delta region and each specific region.
In addition, the renewal of land policy, credit expansion and lending promotion, human resource development, etc. are solutions that the agriculture and rural development sector will focus on drastically implementing for the region in the coming time.