Vietnam's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has revealed that over 16,000 hectares of rice crop in the delta province has been badly affected by a brown planthopper epidemic.

Earlier over 20,000 hectares of rice farms in Bac Lieu Province in the Mekong Delta was seriously affected. However, the swarm, with a density of 2,000 to 3,000 insects per square meter of paddy, was partially exterminated thanks to official assistance.