On the afternoon of June 26, 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a press conference to announce the “Competition for 80 Years of Vietnam’s Irrigation Accompanying the Country.” The event also unveiled the new logo for Vietnam’s irrigation sector.
VIETNAM HAS THE BEST IRRIGATION INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE WORLD
Speaking at the press conference, Mr. Nguyen Tung Phong, Director of the Irrigation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, stated that irrigation plays a crucial role in the country’s economy, society, and national security. Over the years, the irrigation sector has made significant contributions to environmental protection and improvement, playing a vital role in poverty eradication, new rural development, and effectively serving the industrialization and modernization of the country.
Vietnam’s irrigation system currently boasts 290,000 large and small pump stations and 170,000 canal works with a total length of millions of kilometers. Additionally, the country has 7,342 dams and reservoirs with a storage capacity of 50,000 cubic meters or dam heights of 5 meters and above. Over 900 irrigation systems have been constructed, serving areas of 200 hectares or more, including 122 medium and large-scale systems serving over 2,000 hectares.
Some of the most important reservoirs include Ho Dau Tieng, the largest reservoir in Vietnam, spanning the provinces of Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc, and Binh Duong. It has a water surface area of 270 square kilometers and a water capacity of 1.58 billion cubic meters. Ho Dau Tieng is capable of directly providing irrigation water for 1,170 square kilometers of agricultural land in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Phuoc, and Binh Duong.
Ho Cua Dat, the second-largest reservoir in the country, is located in Thuong Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province. It has a water surface area of 31 square kilometers and a water storage capacity of 1.45 billion cubic meters. This reservoir plays a crucial role in stabilizing irrigation water for 86,862 hectares of cultivated land in the North Chu and South Ma regions.
The third-largest reservoir is Ho Ngàn Truoi in Ha Tinh province, providing irrigation water for 32,585 hectares of agriculture in eight northern districts and towns of Ha Tinh. Another notable reservoir is Ho Ke Go, also in Ha Tinh province, with a storage capacity of 345 million cubic meters and a water surface area of over 30 square kilometers. It is responsible for providing irrigation water for two districts.
“Vietnam is no longer a water-rich country but has become a water-deficient one, as most of our water resources depend on rivers flowing from other countries into ours. Therefore, we need a new approach to irrigation, from water storage and distribution to water quality and protection.“
Mr. Nguyen Tung Phong, Director of the Irrigation Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The irrigation system, along with the water regulation and adjustment network within the reservoir system, has become the foundation for the rational restructuring of the agricultural sector. It ensures that Vietnamese agriculture has sufficient water to proactively engage in production.
The World Bank has repeatedly praised Vietnam’s irrigation infrastructure, stating, “Vietnam has one of the best and most extensive irrigation systems in the world.”
Mr. Nguyen Tung Phong emphasized that the irrigation system not only brings water to the people but also serves as their living space. It enhances rural landscapes and architecture and is a source of pride for the local population. The irrigation infrastructure aims to support the cultivation of high-value crops and the development of aquaculture, fruit trees, and specialty crops.
Therefore, there is a need to prioritize investments in the development of irrigation and clean water supply in rural areas facing water challenges, such as the midland and mountainous regions, the Central Highlands, and the South-Central Coast. These projects may not require large investments but hold tremendous social significance.
LAUNCHING A JOURNALISM AND CREATIVE COMPETITION ON IRRIGATION
To implement the Scheme for Agricultural Restructuring and the Strategy for Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development for the period 2021 – 2030, with a vision towards 2050, it is essential to shift from an agricultural production mindset to an agro-economic perspective. This involves moving from a single-value development mindset to an integrated multi-value approach, and the irrigation sector needs to take a leading step towards modernization, intelligence, and serving multiple objectives.
In anticipation of the 80th anniversary of the traditional day of the Vietnamese irrigation sector (August 28, 1945 – August 28, 2025), the Irrigation Department is organizing a competition titled “80 Years of Vietnam’s Irrigation Accompanying the Country.” This competition aims to acknowledge the remarkable achievements and the crucial role of the irrigation sector in agriculture, rural areas, and the country’s socio-economic development and national security.
The competition aims to encourage and create opportunities for professional and amateur authors nationwide to create works that honestly and vividly reflect the importance of the irrigation sector in people’s lives, agricultural production, increasing cultivated areas, improving crop yields, ensuring food security, and promoting agricultural exports. Vietnam has transformed from a country struggling to meet domestic demand to one of the leading exporters of agricultural products.
Additionally, the competition aims to honor exemplary individuals and structures in the field of irrigation. Through the submitted works, stories of management, protection, and development in the irrigation sector will reach a wider audience in society.
The submitted works will provide an opportunity for those working in irrigation to reflect on the sector’s formation and development and continue writing its heroic history. It will also motivate them to strive to fulfill the sector’s multi-objective development mission.
According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thach, Editor-in-Chief of the Vietnam Agricultural Newspaper, the competition is launched with the hope of acknowledging the remarkable achievements and the crucial role, position, and importance of the irrigation sector in agriculture, rural areas, and the country’s socio-economic development and national security. It also aims to encourage and inspire a spirit of labor and creativity in the irrigation sector.
The Organizing Committee will accept submissions from the time of the competition’s launch until June 15, 2025 (based on the postmark). Submissions can take various forms, including articles, speeches, videos, photo essays, short stories, poems, etc., ensuring compliance with the competition’s rules and regulations regarding format and content.
The competition’s prize structure includes: 01 Special Prize, 03 First Prizes, 06 Second Prizes, 09 Third Prizes, 15 Encouragement Prizes, and 03 Prizes for collectives that organize the competition well, with a large number of high-quality entries.
Submissions (including printed copies, soft copies, and audio/visual/clip files for speeches, videos, and photos) should be sent to the Vietnam Agricultural Newspaper – Address: 14 Ngo Quyen, Trang Tien, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi. The envelope containing the entry should be clearly marked: “Entry for the Competition – 80 Years of Vietnam’s Irrigation Accompanying the Country.”
Alternatively, participants can send soft copies and audio/visual/clip files of their entries to the following email addresses: [email protected] or [email protected]
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