Vietnam Net Bridge
11 October 2015
Farmers in the Mekong Delta depend heavily on the wet season inundating their fields but this year the rains are late
Mekong Delta provinces such as Long An, Dong Thap and An Giang are normally grappling with floods at this time of year but the heavy rains are yet to come. In most places this would be good news but in the Delta it’s anything but. Farmers anticipate the flooding as it gives them the chance to earn money from fishing as the flood waters nourish their fields. It’s outside of harvest time, so their fields lay idle.
Mr. Be Hai, a farmer in Dong Thap province, usually earns VND200,000 ($9) from planting crops but during the flood season he buys 200 fishing baskets and earns VND300,000 to VND400,000 ($13.50 to $18) a day. As he always does every year, he deposited VND4.5 million ($202) in May on leasing additional land and bought the 200 baskets, for a total outlay of over VND30 million ($1,352).