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| Truong Van Hien in An Giang province and his son spread nets in Long Chau canal, but they cannot cat just a single fish |
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Farmers in Mekong Delta provinces are facing a tough time caused by delayed floods. The flood season usually begins in early August and lasts around four months.
During this time last year, locals were busy after their fields were submerged in nearly two meters of floodwaters.
The late arrival has also meant tools for catching shrimp and fish are not much in demand, with sales falling by more than half from normal years.
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The flood season provides a living for 600,000-700,000 people in the province, who earn a cumulative 1.5 trillion dong (US$79 million).
If the floods do not appear, cultivation costs might increase during the upcoming winter-spring rice crop due to a lack of water for irrigation.
Le Van Banh, head of the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute, says the floods deposit huge quantities of silt every year that fertilize 1.5 million hectares of paddies.
P.V