Although the dry season has on its last days, drought has still been accelerating in the South Central and Central Highland Regions, including Binh Thuan, the province dubbed ‘Vietnamese dragon fruit capital’. Ensuring sufficient water resource for household use and irrigation is the top priority of the locality now.

Due to proactive measures of water reservation, hardly any dragon fruit farms in Ham Thuan Nam district suffer from water shortage. According to the provincial Water Resource and Irrigation Authority, only 50,000 hectares of dragon fruit no longer suffer from water shortage thanks to careful preparation. The province has deployed several measures to ensure water sufficiency for irrigation since the beginning of dry season in 2018 – 2019. Rainfall in February – May period this year is much lower than that of previous years. However, with proactive measures from both the province and locals, the drought is believed to have very little impacts on the dragon fruit capital.-VNA