Sand mining erodes farm land in northern provinces

Land erosion along Lo River (Source: VNA) Tuyen Quang (VNS/VNA) – Authorities in several northern provinces have remained silent as hundreds of thousands of households living along Lo river desperately seek help to prevent their farms being swept away by rampant sand mining. The households in the northern provinces of Tuyen Quang, Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc said that hundreds of sand mining boats operating along the two river banks are responsible for the erosion that threatens their land. They have reported the situation to local authorities, but to no avail. Dozens of dredging boats have been found operating on the river section that passes through Phu Tho province. Some of these have moved close to the river bank to mine sand, threatening residents’ corn fields. Ho Thi Thanh Kien, a resident of Phu Ninh district’s Ha Giap commune, said she as well as other residents had to harvest the corn in haste as they were afraid the land would disappear soon. “The water has almost reached the fence of my corn field,” she said.      In Son Duong district’s Dong Tho commune, around ten hectares of farm land were lost to erosion soon after dredgers began operating in the area. Duong Thi Lien, a resident of Son Duong district’s Lam Xuyen commune, said that as much as 700sq.m of her 1,000sq.m plus plot has been swept away, and she is scared she will lose the rest too. Duong Thi Phuong Nhung, Chairwoman of the Lam Xuyen commune People’s Committee,… [Read full story]