At this time every year, farmers in My Tu commune (Can Tho city) are busy making land, in some places they have planted winter-spring rice. However, this year, many fields are still deeply flooded, causing people to not be able to renovate.
Mr. Pham Van Doi, a farmer with more than 1 hectare of rice in My Tu commune, said: "After harvesting the Summer-Autumn crop, I raise fish in the fields to improve the soil. Usually, at this time every year, fish are harvested and rice is sown, but the water is still immense, no one can pump them, and the fish cannot be harvested yet".
According to Mr. Doi, high water causes many embankments to be flooded and broken, and it will take about a month to pump water. At that time, the cost of renting a locomotive to rebuild the embankment will increase. Sowing late for harvest is likely to fall into the rainy season and increase the risk of falling and losing productivity.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, a farmer in My Tu commune (Can Tho city), said that compared to the same period of many years, rice is usually over 1 month old, but currently his family's 5,000 m2 of rice fields cannot be sown. He said that because the cultivated land area does not have a pumping station, pumps have to be rented at a cost of about 300,000 VND. "This year the water is too high, the cost of pumping is likely to be even higher," Mr. Thanh shared.
The agricultural sector of My Tu commune said that due to the impact of storms, high tides and rising water levels higher than every year, localities that were once in the old Soc Trang province such as Huynh Huu Nghia town, My Tu, My Thuan were all affected by the sowing progress of the 2025 - 2026 Winter-Spring rice crop. Previously, farmers had sowed for nearly a month, but this year it is expected that they will be able to sow in early December. If planted late, the production of the next Summer-Autumn rice crop will be difficult, because this is a low-lying area, prone to flooding during the rainy season from June to December every year.
Mr. Nguyen Van Don, a farmer in Luong Tam commune (Can Tho city), said that his family's area was expected to be planted in more than 20 days but could not pump the water yet. He is concerned that late sowing will cause rice to be at risk of drought and salinity in the dry season next year.
According to the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment). By November 6, the Southern provinces had planted 174,825/1,558,900 hectares, reaching 11.21% of the plan. Some localities such as Tay Ninh, Vinh Long, An Giang and Ca Mau are also affected by storms, floods, and high tides with hundreds of hectares of rice having reduced productivity or lost everything. In Can Tho City alone, over 5,841 hectares of crops were flooded (including 280 hectares of rice, 577.1 hectares of vegetables and 4,984.8 hectares of fruit trees). Farmers are actively pumping water out.
The Southern Institute of Water Resources Science forecasts that the water source to the Mekong Delta in November 2025 will be higher than the average of many years, which is considered a favorable condition for the production of the 2025 - 2026 Winter-Spring crop. However, due to the delay in flood receding and high water levels, some localities in flooded areas need to proactively pump out water at the beginning of the crop and plant early to ensure safety against saline intrusion at the end of the dry season.
