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Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan chaired a workshop to listen to Israeli experts’ experiences in desert farming which can help Vietnam adapt to the risk of increasingly severe drought and salinity.
Speaking at a workshop on how Israel turning desert into farmland organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on May 10 in Hanoi, Minister Le Minh Hoan said that, in the face of increasingly harsh climate change, many farming areas in Vietnam are suffering from drought and saltwater intrusion, Israel’s desert agriculture can create hope for many countries, including Vietnam.
Participating in this conference, Israeli Ambassador to Vietnam Yaron Mayer said that in the past, this country always suffered from scarcity of water. To beat its water crisis, Israel has studied significant knowledge and developed effective strategies to foster productive agriculture such as water-saving technology, water reuse technology, desalination, and building many water storage infrastructure.
In addition, this country also promotes human education and develops a culture of water conservation.
Economic Counselor, Head of Economic and Trade Mission to Vietnam Gal Saf also said that this country is 60 percent desert. Therefore, Israel has used pipes combined with technology to minimize water loss.
Instead of creating many new water sources, Israel reuses over 85 percent of its water, Mr. Gal Saf shared.
Accordingly, 95 percent of Israel's wastewater is currently treated at wastewater treatment centers which are located in most cities and provinces of Israel. Mr. Gal Saf said that recycling wastewater can help use unlimited water resources. In addition, the desalinated water is produced in five seawater desalination plants using expensive technology; thus, the five plants are mainly used to treat drinking water (85 percent of drinking water in Israel is filtered from salt water).
Ambassador Yaron Mayer also affirmed that Israel has experience in fighting drought, so it is ready to give advice on technology and cooperation opportunities with Vietnam.
Vu Kien Trung, representative of Netafim Company (Israel), said that this business has been operating in Vietnam for 26 years and is a pioneer in creating an application platform for economical irrigation and precision irrigation, which is being applied to thousands of hectares of vegetables and flowers in Lam Dong Province, dragon fruit in Binh Thuan Province, sweet potatoes in the Central Highlands region.
Mr. Trung said that in the coming years, the Central Highlands region will replant coffee in mass, so the need for irrigation is huge and the drip irrigation model needs to be applied to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and save water.
According to Director Nguyen Tung Phong of the Department of Water Resources under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, up to now, Vietnam has had 530,000 hectares applying water conservation methods mainly sprinkler irrigation while just several localities have used drip irrigation.
