The government of Vietnam is seeking to help the main rice-producing part of the country deal with difficult agricultural issues. The area is known as the Mekong Delta. It is home to 18 million of Vietnam’s 94 million people. More than half of the country’s rice is grown in the area, which feeds more than 145 million people in Asia. The Mekong begins in Tibet. It passes through six countries: China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Some of these countries are building dams that are affecting the river. Worries about the future of the Mekong Delta increased after an extreme lack of water this year caused the area to become saltier than normal. The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, said rice production fell by 1.1 million tons.