MEKONG DELTA: IMPORTANCE TO VIETNAM, AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

MEKONG DELTA

Mekong River Delta from space, June 2025

Mekong Delta (about 3 hours south of Saigon) is huge delta created by massive amounts of silt, some of it originating in the Himalayas, carried downstream by the Mekong River and deposited in southernmost part of Vietnam, where the great river empties into the South China Sea. About 10,000 square kilometers of the delta are under rice cultivation, making the area one of the major rice-growing regions of the world. The southern tip, known as the Ca Mau Peninsula (Mui Bai Bung), is covered by dense jungle and mangrove swamps.

The Mekong Delta is a low-level plain not more than three meters above sea level at any point and crisscrossed by a maze of canals and rivers. So much sediment is carried by the Mekong's various branches and tributaries that the delta advances sixty to eighty meters into the sea every year despite waves, typhoons and tides that gobble it up. An official Vietnamese source estimates the amount of sediment deposited annually to be about 1 billion cubic meters, or nearly 13 times the amount deposited by the Red River.

Flat, hot and green, the Mekong Delta is Vietnam's most important agricultural region. Much of the area is covered by rice paddies that are irrigated by delta water and fertilized by delta silt. Many paddies and farms produce three crops of rice a year, enough to feed the entire country, with some left over to export, Almost half of Vietnam’s exported rices comes from the Mekong Delta. Other products from the region include sugar cane, coconuts, pumpkins, various kinds of fruit, fish and snakes. There also large numbers of catfish and shrimp farms.

The Mekong Delta wasn’t really inhabited until the 19th century. During the Vietnam War it was where most many of U.S. army’s infamous Search and Destroy missions took place. Many people get around by boat and Mekong taxis (wagons pulled by motorcycles) and live in villages and towns, some of which have floating markets, along the and small rivers that lace the delta. Many boats are manned by women in conical hats who stand up when they row. Women also dominate the markets and trade. Birdlife, including ibises, storks and spoonbills, is plentiful and saltwater crocodiles are found in the southern part of delta.

Mekong Delta Size, Composition and Hydrology

The Mekong Delta covers an area of about 40,150 square kilometers (15,500 square miles), half of it under cultivation, and home to a fifth of Vietnam’s population. The level of the water varies according to daily tides, dredging operations and seasonal variations (ranging from 38,000 cubic meters a second in September to 1900 feet a second in April). During the rainy season there can be big floods. Sometimes the roadbeds are the only high ground in huge lakes.

Before the Mekong River enters Vietnam it follows a pretty direct course but after it enters Vietnam it begins meandering and spreading out. It enters the country as two channels which the Vietnamese call Tien Giang (Upper River) and Hau Giang (Lower River). As it moves along it branches out further. By the time it reaches the South China Sea it has seven main branches. Two others have silted over. The Vietnamese, mindful than nine is an auspicious number, call these branches the Nine Dragons.

Connecting and running off of these branches are streams and canals, which together have an estimated length of 3,600 kilometers—almost the length of the Mekong River itself—and are crossed by fragile-looking bridges made of bamboo and mangrove branches lashed together with vines. In southern part of the delta is the U Minh Forest, an extensive area of mangroves and swamp forest, where an extremely rare Javan rhinoceros was discovered in the late 1990s. Large parts of forest have been deforested and transformed into shrimp farms.

Agricultural Importance of the Mekong Delta

Map of Mekong Delta with provinces, flood-prone areas, and brackish areas Researchgate

Katie Padilla wrote in an ICE Case Studies: The Mekong Delta is critical to the livelihoods and food security of millions of people in Vietnam. 22 percent of the population of Vietnam lives in the Mekong Delta, which is a high population density area of about 17 million people (Yun). Agriculture is a primary source of livelihood in the Mekong Delta, where roughly half of the total amount of food in Vietnam is produced (ICEM, 7). A large volume of the agricultural output of the Mekong Delta is exported throughout Southeast Asia, making it a crucial agricultural source for other countries in the region as well (ICEM, 59).[Source: Katie Padilla, American University, ICE Case Studies, Number 265, December, 2011]

The Mekong Delta is critically important to Vietnam’s national agricultural production. According to Can Tho University estimates, the Mekong Delta produces 50 percent of the nation’s rice, 80 percent of the nation’s fruit, and 60 percent of the nation’s fish, making it the largest agriculture and aquaculture production region in Vietnam (ICEM, 37). Overall, 46 percent of the total amount of food produced in Vietnam comes from the Mekong Delta (ICEM, 7). Agriculture is a crucial source of livelihood for the residents of the Mekong Delta, particularly rice cultivation, which is the primary livelihood for 60 percent of the inhabitants of the Mekong Delta (Käkönen, 206).

The agricultural output of the Mekong Delta supports the population of numerous other countries in the region in addition to Vietnam’s population. According to a National Intelligence Council (NIC) Conference Report from January 2010, Vietnam is the world’s second largest rice exporter, and the Mekong Delta produces the overwhelming majority of Vietnam’s rice exports (CENTRA Technology, Inc. and Scitor Corporation, 14). “As well as being the “food basket” of Vietnam, the Mekong Delta region also provides more than 80 per cent of total rice exports – an important contribution to the food security across the region” (ICEM, 59).

The Mekong Delta represents the largest scale of irrigation areas in the region, and the high agricultural output of the Mekong Delta translates into a substantial source of economic output for Vietnam as well. The Mekong Delta contributes 27 percent of Vietnam’s GDP according to the 2009 Mekong Delta Climate Change Forum Report (ICEM, 59). As such, the agricultural output of the Mekong Delta is not only crucial to the food security of numerous countries in Southeast Asia, but also an important component of Vietnam’s GDP.

Vietnam's 'Food Bowl'—the Mekong Delta—under Stress

Mekong Delta Agricultural land use map (2008). Researchgate

The Mekong Delta is regarded at the breadbasket of Vietnam. In recent years the region has come under stress from problems such as over-exploitation and salt-water intrusion. In 2005, Tran Dinh Thanh Lam wrote in the Inter Press Service, “Vietnam's ecologically sensitive wetlands, which produce much of the country's food staples, including rice, fish and fowl, are now beginning to suffer the effects of over-exploitation. "Environmental protection and economic development sometimes contradict each other," Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) Pham Khoi Nguyen said recently, spelling out the government's dilemma. [Source: Tran Dinh Thanh Lam, Inter Press Service, September 22, 2005]

“But Nguyen indicated that the time had come for drastic measures to be taken to protect a vast region of shimmering paddies and mudflats, stretching from the Red River valley in the north to the Mekong Delta in the south, which not only "play a crucial role in ensuring the national food supply but (are) also home to delicate ecosystems''. "The trend of making quick money by tapping wetland resources in Vietnam is threatening the country's environment," Nguyen stressed. One-fifth of Vietnam's 78 million population makes a living by exploiting 10 million ha (hectares) of wetland areas for growing rice and aquaculture.

Much of Vietnam's largest wetland area lies in the Mekong Delta in the south, with its elaborate network of river channels and vast areas of rice paddies, mangrove and melaleuca forests, tidal mudflats and shrimp and fish ponds. But rapid demographic development has resulted in greater demand for food, which in turn forced farmers to reclaim vast areas of wetlands by cutting down mangrove and melaleuca trees for charcoal, firewood and timber.

At Can Gio wetland, 50 kilometers southeast of Ho Chi Minh City for instance, 400,000 ha of mangroves are now under threat from illegal salt farming and shrimp breeding. "Last year, there were 123 violations of reserve regulations - most were for illegal aquaculture activities," Nguyen Van Thanh, deputy head of the forests' management board, told IPS. "These illegal farms caused the destruction of 2.6 ha, and thousands of mangrove trees in the reserve have been cut down." Can Gio has been named a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) biosphere reserve, and any attempt to farm, to take fish or wood from the reserve is illegal. Like in other national parks and reserves in the country, some Can Gio people are allowed to live and farm in buffer zones that separate the reserve from the surrounding region. They are not permitted to carry out any production activities in the reserve.

Groundwater Extraction and Land Subsidence in the Mekong Delta

Subsidence has long occurred in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta but has worsened in recent years, particularly because of excessive groundwater extraction. Scientists warned that the problem threatens the livelihoods of millions of farmers. Associate Professor Nguyen Hieu Trung of Can Tho University said subsidence had become more severe, especially in urban areas. [Source: vietnam.net, March 22, 2017]

Shallow groundwater was being heavily extracted for household use, industry, agriculture and seafood farming. Urbanization and changes in land use had increased demand for water, accelerating groundwater exploitation and raising concerns about depletion. Excessive extraction also increased the possibility of saltwater entering shallow groundwater layers.

A study by Research from the Rise and Fall project, conducted by Vietnamese and Dutch experts, estimated that land subsidence was about 10–20 millimeters (0.4–0.8 inches) per year in many rural areas and about 25 millimeters (1 inch) per year in urban areas. Scientists warned that continued groundwater extraction could accelerate subsidence and saltwater intrusion, creating greater problems for economic development. The project focused on developing sustainable approaches to groundwater extraction, land subsidence and saltwater intrusion as the delta becomes increasingly urbanized.

Scientists called for sustainable strategies to reduce groundwater overexploitation, involving local, regional and national authorities, NGOs, businesses and research institutions. They also warned that expanding hydropower projects along the main Mekong River could alter river conditions downstream. Hydropower dams could disrupt the transport of sediment that maintains the natural fertility of the delta. Sea-level rise could further alter the balance between the mainland and estuaries, increasing salinity in agricultural land, contaminating groundwater and permanently inundating parts of the Mekong Delta.

Environmental Threats to the Wetlands of the Mekong Delta

Parts of the Mekong Delta are covered by dense jungle, mangrove swamps and wetlands used birds and animals. Despite a US$6.7 million conservation project funded by Ho Chi Minh City, illegal farming and logging remained major problems in the Can Gio reserve. Local people had converted about 12 hectares (30 acres) of forest into shrimp ponds and salt fields. Rangers said families gradually cleared small areas each day, sometimes taking nearly 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of mangrove land for shrimp farming within four months. In one year, rangers seized 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of endangered reptiles and birds, along with illegally cut mangrove wood, although they said this represented only a small part of what had been taken. [Source: Tran Dinh Thanh Lam, Inter Press Service, September 22, 2005]

BirdLife International called for sustainable wetland management that could both reduce poverty and protect biodiversity. Vietnam’s wetlands support local livelihoods through fishing and shellfish collection and provide services including flood control, water purification and habitat for biodiversity. They also support thousands of migratory shorebirds that arrive from northern regions after the Arctic summer.

Wetland management was complicated because no single government agency had overall responsibility, while rights of access and use were often unclear. Agencies and communities sometimes emphasized food production and economic development over the environmental functions of wetlands. Although the government passed three laws on wetland management in 1994–95, the source said Vietnam still lacked a comprehensive legal framework for wetland protection.

A US$65.7 million Coastal Wetlands Protection and Development Project, running from 2000 to 2006, was designed to restore depleted coastal mangroves in four Mekong Delta provinces. The region had lost more than half its mangrove cover over the previous 20 years, mainly through unsustainable logging and unsuccessful shrimp-farm development. The project proposed full-protection zones, sustainable farming in buffer zones and restrictions on damaging coastal development, but these measures faced resistance from local agencies and communities focused on economic development.

Mekong Delta Floods

In 2001, seasonal floods killed 385 people in the Mekong Delta. Two major flood peaks left thousands homeless. In October 2001, 222 people were killed in floods as waters in the Mekong Delta rose to levels that were dangerously high, but not as high as the previous year. A total of 182 of the dead were children. Tens of thousands of houses, home to over 1 million people, were inundated. About 105,000 people had to be evacuated.

In the midst of the floods, Associated Press reported: Seasonal flooding in the southern Mekong Delta, Vietnam's main rice-growing region, has killed 222 people, including 182 children, the government reported. The floods, which inundated 253,000 homes in the six provinces affected, have caused an estimated $45 million in damage, according to the Floods and Storms Control Department. More than 24,000 families have been evacuated to higher ground. An additional 20,000 still need to be moved because floodwaters, though now receding, remain dangerously high. The floods submerged 1,405 schools, preventing 313,000 students from attending classes, the Floods and Storms Control Department reported. To reduce the number of children drowning, authorities in the three worst-hit provinces have set up 681 centers to care for some 16,500 children whose farmer parents must go out to earn their living. Some 190,000 families in the flooded areas are reportedly in need of assistance, but only 43,200 have received relief supplies. [Source: Associated Press, October 8, 2001]

In 2000, flooding killed 400 to 500 people, most of them children, and caused $280 million in damage in the worst flood to hit the Mekong Delta, Vietnam's main rice growing region, in nearly 70 years. More than 48,000 families in the Mekong Delta were displaced. About 4 million people have lost homes, livestock or crops. Total damage has been estimated at $247 million. Heavy monsoon rains in July triggered massive flooding along the Mekong River, which cuts through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. An estimated 6.5 million people have been affected, especially in the southern delta regions of Cambodia and Vietnam. In Vietnam over 300 children were drowned or swept away by floodwaters as their parents sought to salvage crops. So many places were inundated with water local authorities found they had nowhere to bury their dead.

Impact of 100-Year Drought in 2010 on the Mekong Delta

Vietnam suffers from 100-year drought in 2010. In March 2010, IRIN reported: “As temperatures rise in Vietnam, a nationwide drought has dried up riverbeds, sparked forest fires and now threatens one of the world's richest agricultural regions, upon which millions depend for their livelihoods. "The Mekong Delta is facing a serious drought," Nguyen Minh Giam, deputy director of the National Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center for the southern region, told IRIN. Water levels on the Mekong River are at an almost 20-year low, largely as a result of the rainy season ending early and a precipitous drop in water flow upstream, he said. [Source: IRIN, March 5, 2010]

Martha Ann Overland wrote in Time, ““The region most affected — and the one that affects the most — is the Mekong River Delta in the south. Water levels in the nation's rice bowl have fallen to their lowest points in nearly 20 years, threatening the livelihoods of tens of millions of people who depend on the river basin for farming, fishing and transportation. The biggest problem, however, is not the water. It's the salt. During the dry season, when channels and tributaries run dry, seawater can creep more than 18 miles (30 km) inland. Vietnam has installed a series of sluice gates to hold back high tides as well as control annual monsoon flooding. This has allowed farmers to switch between growing rice in the wet season and raising shrimp in the brackish waters in the dry. The result has been more-effective land use and higher crop yields, and a doubling of farmers' incomes in the Delta since 1999. /^\ [Source: Martha Ann Overland, Time, March 4, 2010]

“Those high-yield days may be over. As the drought intensifies, in some places seawater has crept nearly 40 miles (60 km) inland, says Dam Hoa Binh, deputy director of the Irrigation Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Hanoi. Most of the winter-spring crop has already been harvested, but saltwater is reaching where it has never gone before, putting the summer-fall crop in jeopardy, says Binh. "We are trying to strengthen our irrigation systems to prevent further salinization," he adds, but the extreme conditions are making it "one of the most difficult situations in 100 years." /^\

In March 2010, IRIN reported: “During the dry season, salt water from the South China Sea can push 30km inland. This year, communities as far as 60km up-river are reporting salt contamination. "Salinization has been a pattern in the Mekong Delta the last 30 to 50 years, but things are getting worse every year due to climate change," said Pham Van Du, deputy director at the Department of Planting in the agricultural ministry. He estimates that 100,000ha of rice in the Mekong Delta are under threat. [Source: IRIN, March 5, 2010]

“Because of the hydropower projects on its side of the border, China frequently gets the blame for water shortages downstream. Indeed, Vietnam's neighbor has been on an aggressive campaign to damn the Mekong River, which begins on the Tibetan plateau and travels through five other countries before it empties into the South China Sea. According to the Mekong River Commission, a regional advisory agency, China has built or is planning to build eight dams along the Mekong. But while dams raise huge concerns about interfering with sediment flow and fish migration, they can also have a positive impact, says Jeremy Bird, the commission's chief executive officer. "They will redistribute the flow of water, therefore there will be more water available in the dry season," he says. But at the moment, with China also experiencing extreme drought, there appears to be little dammed water to release. /^\

“Meteorologists say the return of El Niño, a cyclical warming pattern, is the real culprit. Ian Wilderspin, senior technical adviser for disaster risk management at the UN Development Programme in Hanoi, said climate change meant Vietnam would experience droughts that arrived sooner and lasted longer. The government has moved to assist farmers by releasing water from the reservoirs and installing pumps. But considering the magnitude of the problem, "more needs to be done", he said. "We have to look at the ways and means to build resilience of local communities," said Wilderspin, whether by providing drought-resistant seeds, planting different crops or protecting fresh water sources. "Climate change is only going to make these cycles worse."

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Vietnamtourism. com, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, CIA World Factbook, Compton’s Encyclopedia, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Global Viewpoint (Christian Science Monitor), Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, Fox News and various websites, books and other publications identified in the text.

Last updated September 2026