Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh planted 120 hectares of rice with only two managers and two machine operators. Instead of having to hire dozens of people like before, profits increased by 30-40%.
Farmer Nguyen Van Khanh, in Tam Nong district, Dong Thap province is passionate about growing rice. Ten years ago, he accumulated 120 hectares of land, but the ground was high and low, requiring a lot of costs and labor to cultivate. Each crop after harvest, although there is good revenue, the profit is not high due to high costs.
For more than 4 years, he has been heavily investing in machinery and technology, from drones, to cultivators, laser field surfacers, water pumps, combine harvesters…
The tillage system helps keep the ground flat, uses water effectively, provides uniform quality of agricultural products, and limits weeds and pests. Using drones has brought significant efficiency. Previously, each time he sowed rice, Mr. Khanh had to hire dozens of people, but he could only sow 10 hectares/day, taking 12 days to complete, while a drone with only two people operating the machine could sow 40 hectares, shortening the time by 9 hours. day. Similarly, each spraying period requires 7 people to spray the machine and rotate continuously. When using a drone, only 2 people are needed, the turnaround time is extended to 10 days.
“Machines have done all the steps, so farming is now very healthy. 120 hectares of rice only need two managers and two people to operate the machines. Profits can increase by 30-40%,” Mr. Khanh said, adding that each hectare of rice he earns 20 million VND per crop, meaning that applying machinery and technology helps him increase nearly a billion VND per crop. Every year, more than 70% of his area is cultivated with three rice crops, the rest is grown with two crops, and one crop is flooded.
Since applying 4.0 technology in field management and alternating wet and dry irrigation techniques, he has also had more money selling carbon credits.
Mr. Khanh is one of millions of farmers benefiting from mechanization and applying technology to rice production. According to the results of the 2020 mid-term rural and agricultural survey, the rate of using land preparation machines, sowing and harvesting machines in rice production in the Mekong Delta reached 92%, 50% and 91% respectively.
Agricultural drone on Mr. Khanh’s field. Image: Ngoc Tai
In seafood, in Ca Mau Tan Hung High Productivity Shrimp Cooperative (Tan Hung Commune, Cai Nuoc District) has boldly applied machinery and technology in super-intensive shrimp farming, density from 250-300 shrimp per m2, average productivity of 50 tons per hectare/crop, 10 times higher than traditional industrial farming.
Mr. Huynh Xuan Dien, director of Tan Hung Cooperative, said that for every hectare of super-intensive shrimp farming, the pond owner must hire about 10 workers, with a salary of at least about 6 million VND/person a month. On average, each farming season lasts 3 months, he has to spend about 300 million VND to hire workers. That’s why he came up with the idea of assembling a set of remote control electronic devices.
UMBRELLANg Dien and Mr. Huynh Ngoc Tien researched and assembled a set of remote control electronic equipment to operate the oxygen generation system in the pond and feed the shrimp. This method replaces human labor, saves costs, and improves production efficiency in super-intensive shrimp farming.
This is a cluster of electronic equipment that operates all electrical equipment in shrimp ponds, such as: controlling feeding machine speed, feeding time and rest time; Remotely control the oxygen generating fan system, running and resting time. The equipment cluster will automatically operate, remember and repeat automatically, shrimp farmers do not have to keep track of time or close the circuit breaker like the traditional way. The system can remotely control the shrimp feeding machine and oxygen generating fan system without having to go to the pond, reducing the number of workers to 4 people.
Technology products of Tan Hung high-yield shrimp cooperative at the shrimp farming technology exhibition. Image: An Minh
To reduce the risk of electric shock in shrimp farming, Mr. Dien researched and successfully manufactured anti-electric shock devices. Since 2017, he and his colleagues have nurtured ideas and researched the application of DC electricity technology in industrial shrimp farming. After nearly 3 years of manufacturing and dozens of failures, he perfected DC electricity technology, put it into production, and expanded it to cooperative farms.
According to Mr. Dien, the essence of this technology is to replace AC alternating current with DC current. To replace electric current, he used a source to convert alternating current into direct current, then fed it into the pond system to operate motor-powered machinery. The motor used is converted into a 100% DC electric motor. When farmers enter the pond system, the electricity has been converted into 40V DC electricity, so there is no shock and no electrical accidents at work.
In the super-intensive shrimp farming model, shrimp are raised at very high densities, so they require oxygen and mechanical supply systems, leading to very high electricity consumption, which is also a pressure on the electricity industry. “When applying DC power technology to production, it has been proven that power consumption will decrease by 40-50% compared to before, and the monthly electricity price will also decrease by the above ratio,” Mr. Dien said that if he used electricity the old way, it would cost him about 80 million VND, but now it only costs more than 25 million VND.
According to the Department of Science and Technology of Ca Mau province, the rate of science and technology application in agricultural production in the province is about 70%. Particularly in the field of fisheries, the department focuses on researching and applying biotechnology to seed production, improving productivity and quality of black tiger and white shrimp varieties; local aquatic specialties such as Ba Khia, Mudskipper, and Blood Clams. Prominent among them is the application of biotechnology and RAS circulation technology to 3-phase super-intensive commercial whiteleg shrimp farming in Ca Mau.
On fruit treesthe banana farm of Mr. Vo Quan Huy, 69 years old, pioneered the application of a cable car system to harvest bananas, more than 100 km long, in 5 provinces with growing areas, total investment cost of more than 20 billion VND.
According to the farm owner, before the cable car, each farm harvest required dozens of workers to carry the load, then use agricultural vehicles to transport bananas to the processing factory. During the rainy season, the roads are muddy, making travel difficult, requiring a lot of labor and time to harvest, and bananas also have their skins scratched quite a lot. Since having the cable system, the farm has saved about 50% of labor and harvest time.
He said he learned this experience after visiting a banana farm in the Philippines 6 years ago. At that time, I saw that they had invested in a harvest pulley system, so I studied the model and renovated it a bit to suit the conditions on my farm.
The pulley system helps transport bananas to the processing factory. Video:Hoang Nam
To operate, one worker is responsible for checking that the bunches of bananas meet the standards for felling. Other workers will use foam pads on their shoulders to prevent the bananas from being crushed, then carry the bananas and move them for 30 – 50 minutes. m to the harvest pulley system. In this area, a worker will be responsible for hooking banana bunches into the system. When there are about 50 bunches of bananas, a worker operates a gasoline-powered generator to pull the moving system. It takes about 40 minutes to bring bananas from the farthest point to the processing factory.
“The 30 km cable car costs more than 6 billion VND, but it is extremely worth it because it has created a revolution in the harvesting process. Since the cable car system was installed, the number of workers harvesting bananas and the harvesting time has decreased by one The quality of the fruit is also better, with fewer bruises and scratches,” Mr. Huy said.
Thanks to the application of mechanization in large-scale production, within 10 years from the initial farm in Long An of 120 hectares, Mr. Huy has now expanded the banana area to 700 hectares in the areas of Tay Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City. , Dong Nai, Binh Duong. Each year, the farm chain harvests more than 20,000 tons of bananas, exporting mainly to countries such as Japan, China and Korea.
Cable car system to harvest bananas at the banana farm in Duc Hue district, Long An province. Image: Hoang Nam
According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, thanks to the application of technical advances and research results in production, the productivity of some livestock and crops in Vietnam is high compared to other countries in the region and the world. . Among them, rice productivity is the highest among ASEAN countries (1.5 times higher than Thailand), coffee has the second highest productivity in the world (only after Brazil), pepper productivity is the top in the world, and rubber is the highest in the world. Ranked 2nd in the world (only after India), pangasius with a productivity of 500 tons/ha is also the highest in the world.