Over 20,000 pepper plants in Cua Duong Commune are dying due to water shortages.

Phu Quoc Island off the southern province of Kien Giang Province has experienced drought since March. Over 20,000 pepper plants in the island’s Cua Duong Commune are dying due to water shortages.

A local farmer, Nguyen Thi Hoa, said that more than 2,000 pepper plants on her farm are already half dead and will completely die if the drought lasts longer.

"Our pepper farms is being supported with 4 to 10 cubic metres of water a week by local authorities," Hoa said. "This amount of water is only enough for a few hundred plants. We’ve asked the local authorities to help find water but have not yet got any reply. I think the trees won’t last long in this heat, they’ll all die like they did in 1997”.

Hoa and many other farmers have had to collect unripened pepper from the dead trees to sell at cheap prices.

More than 20 families here have even run out of water for daily use.

Chairman of Cua Duong Commune, Tran Van Viet, told Dan Tri on April 15 that there was now no source of water to recue some 20,000 pepper trees.

"The rivers, springs as well in our areas have all run dry," Viet said. "Some of the areas in our communes have no access to electricity so local people cannot drill wells. We've reported the situation to the district to seek for more support and called on local people to save water."

According to vice chairman of Phu Quoc Island District, Huynh Quang Hung, serious drought has hit some communes including Cua Duong, Bai Thom and Cua Can, with Cua Duong being hardest hit.

Cua Duong’s 300 hectares are the island’s largest pepper growing area.

"We've been providing free water for local people here but it seems to be not enough," Hung said. "It is becoming more and more difficult for us to find water and we can only call on local people to try and minimise their use."