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21 | 02 | 2008
The cold spell in northern Vietnam, which started in mid-January and is considered as a historical cold for some decades has severely affected agricultural production, says the Cultivation Department (CD).
Up to present, about 53,000ha of paddy and 5,000 ha of rice seedlings in 16 northern provinces and cities have been completely damaged due to cold. Large areas under peanut and soybean are also rotten or devastated. Spring rice transplanted before Tet festival in provinces of north central, north mountains and the Red river delta has been massively damaged.
Prolonged and devastating cold has killed a lot of animals, says Livestock Production Department (LPD). Provinces with cattle and buffaloes died because of cold or hunger are mostly located in upland regions where farmers still practice free raising and do not pay attention to shed construction or feed reserves.
A meeting was held on 13 February in Hanoi to discuss urgent measures to cope with the cold spell which severely are affecting crop and livestock production in spring of 2008. At the meeting, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat asked functional bodies to establish working missions to review the production situation, quickly update damages of rice seedlings and paddy before working out needed measures for the resettlement.
The Minister also asked localities to advice farmers not to transplant spring rice in temperature under 15C0 and take better cares to animals. He suggested that dead rice seedlings should be replaced with the new ones with a condition that they are properly sown, covered and kept warm by electricity to avoid cold.
(Source: Vietnam News Agency)