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Showers at the end of April offered relief from the drought across swathes of Vietnam’s northern Red River Delta and central region, but other parts of the country continue to suffer.
“It has improved in the north a bit because of the beginning of the rainy season, but some provinces in the northwest are still very dry. In the south, the situation is getting worse,” Maria Cristina Bentivoglio, programme officer for the Food and Agriculture Organization, Vietnam, told IRIN from Hanoi.
The record drought, which began last September, remains severe in the mountainous provinces of the north, parts of central Vietnam and the entire Mekong Delta region, said the latest UN situation report.
The UN said forest fires are no longer a risk in the northern region, but eight provinces in the Mekong Delta and central highlands are on “high alert”. The drought will probably affect the rice harvest in 2010-2011, according to the UN. Vietnam is the world’s second largest rice exporter.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions