Tien Giang and Ben Tre Provinces in Vietnam are both known as ‘fruit kingdoms’ because of the vast amount of fruit grown there. The most famous types of fruit grown in the two locations include grapefruit, durian, mango, rambutan, jackfruit and mangosteen. All were widely consumed domestically, as well as exported all over the world.
However farmers there are now suffering, as salt water has infiltrated the rivers and ponds near these local fruit gardens, resulting in farmers unwittingly watering their plants with water containing a high level of salt.
Plants with low salt tolerance will generally wither after a few days while the fruits of several others will not grow due to a lack of fresh water.
Authorities in Tieng Giang and Ben Tre have recorded thousands of hectares of fruit, as well as millions of plants and flowers, destroyed by the infiltration of salt water.
The volume of dead plants continues to rise each day, resulting in a growing number of farmers broke and indebted.
Locals have been struggling to figure out a way to save their fruit trees as national meteorologists are not forecasting rain until June.
Source: talkvietnam.com
