Plenty of clues out there ... Booming Asian commodities means poorly paid farmers drop the agrarian lifestyle and move to cities chasing higher paying factory jobs. Water shortages and also urea shortages on the sub-continent.
------------------------------------------------------ Around 240,000 ha of rice face water shortage January 11, 2007
Between 142,000 and 240,000 ha of winter-spring rice crops in northern Vietnam are likely to face water shortage, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Irrigation Department.
To avoid a winter crop deficit, around 17,000 ha of rice in the Red River delta will be replaced with drought-resistance plants, the department said.
At present, large reservoirs in Hanoi have only reached around 65-70 percent of their designed capacity.
The Electricity of Vietnam has agreed to release water from upper stream reservoirs three times: from January 14-23, January 27-February 5 and February 11-19 to alleviate the problem. (VNA)
