VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam currently has 8-9 million hectares of unused land which faces the danger of becoming desert, said an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development MARD).

“People often think of Africa or the Middle East when they hear about desert, but in fact, even forest and cultivated land can become desert if sustainable cultivation methods are not used,” warned Nguyen Ngoc Binh, Head of the MARD’s Forestry Department.

In Vietnam, there are around 8-9 million hectares of unused land that is facing the risk of becoming desert. Those areas of land belong to four regions: the central coastal region, which is subject to drought and sand shifting (around 430,000ha); the northwestern region and the Central Highlands; and the Long Xuyen quadrilateral region.

Mr Binh said that desert land can still be used. Some countries, including Israel, plant date-palm trees on this kind of land, but this task is costly.

The official expressed his concern over coastal provinces destroying forest to breed shrimp while some northern mountainous provinces were destroying forest to grow crops.

The Vietnamese government has issued a national action plan to prevent land from becoming desert to 2010. The plan aims to prevent this situation in the four above regions and basically deal with major reasons causing this situation by 2020.

(Source: VNE)