Soil salinity and sodicity in a shrimp farming coastal area of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Soil salinity and sodicity are environmental problems in the shrimp farming areas of the Cai Nuoc district, Ca Mau province, Vietnam. In 2000, farmers in the district switched en masse from rice cropping to shrimp culture. Due to recent failure in shrimp farming, many farmers wish to revert to a rotational system with rice in the wet season and shrimps in the dry season. So far, all their attempts to grow rice have failed. To assess soil salinity and sodicity, 25 boreholes in shrimp ponds were analysed in four consecutive seasons from 2002 to 2004. The results showed that soil salinity was quite serious (mean ECe 29.25 dS m(-1)), particularly in the dry season (mean ECe 33.44 dS m(-1)). In the wet season, significant amounts of salts still remained in the soil (mean ECe 24.65 dS m(-1)) and the highest soil salinity levels were found near the sea. Soil sodicity is also a problem in the district (exchangeable sodium percentage range 9.63-72.07%). Sodicity is mainly a phenomenon of topsoils and of soils near the sea. Both soil salinity and sodicity are regulated by seasonal rainfall patterns. They could together result in disastrous soil degradation in the Cai Nuoc district.