Rice machine “3 in 1”
Along with other provinces in the Mekong Delta, Tra Vinh is a province with strengths in agricultural production with a total cultivated area of over 180,000 hectares, accounting for over 70% of the natural area. At present, the application of Tra Vinh’s science and technology to agriculture has made extremely strong progress.
In 2022, the total production value of Tra Vinh province will reach nearly 18 trillion VND. Advances in science and technology contribute over 30% to value added in agricultural production and 38% in the production of crop varieties and livestock. Thus, it shows that science and technology have made a significant contribution, bringing about breakthrough changes in the development of agricultural production and serving the restructuring of the province’s agriculture.
Mr. Tran Van Chung was recently recognized as one of the top 100 farmers in the country for his invention of the “3-in-1” rice cultivation machine. Picture: Ho Thao.
Most prominent remains the application of scientific and technological advances in rice production. This is considered to be the key to increasing productivity, quality, value creation and increasing competitiveness in the rice market in Tra Vinh province.
In particular, the agricultural sector and communities have encouraged farmers to progressively apply mechanization and automation from tillage, tending and harvesting to rice preservation and processing. Pilot and replication models for the large-scale application of scientific and technical advances, creating conditions for the development of synchronous mechanization.
Mr. Tran Van Chung, director of Phat Tai Cooperative (Chau Thanh District, Tra Vinh Province) said that the cooperative needs to dry rice regularly after buying rice from farmers. On average, each batch of rice drying oven reaches about 30 tons per day and night, and requires the regular use of 3-4 workers.
In late 2022 and early 2023, Mr. Chung’s drying kiln rice cultivation system was successfully researched and put into operation, reducing the labor to only 1 person, and shoveling and transporting the rice to the department after drying Separation, the rice cleaning is 100% automatic (Previously this level required 5 workers/batch to dry the rice).
“When drying rice, the turning part in the oven takes the most time and labor. With the investment cost of the automatic rice planting system of about VND 80 million, the cooperative has saved VND 1.2 to 1.3 million/batch rice when it is put into operation,” said Mr. Chung.
Mr. Tran Van Chung’s rice cultivation machine performs 3 functions: plowing, drying and collecting rice, saving 1.2-1.3 million dong/drying batch. Picture: Ho Thao.
Depending on the moisture content of the rice when it is put into the kiln, on average, a batch of 30 tons of dried rice needs to rake the rice regularly (5-6 hours/time to rake back) and requires 2 workers (each worker performs about 2 hours ). ). With the fully automatic rice cultivation system successfully researched and put into operation by Mr. Chung, only one worker needs to do the control work to do the raking.
After the rice is dried to meet the requirements, the rice farm system collects the dried rice to put into the collection mouth system. From the collection port, the spiral will further bring the rice into the storage tank to pull it, separate the flat seeds, clean the rice, and then lead it down through the pipe into the bag for the workers to do the steps Weighing and perform sewing .
Mr. Chung confided, “Currently, young workers are more likely to work in companies and factories, so the shortage of local labor is inevitable. So I’ve tried to learn and nurture what I have to help the community and people’s lives to evolve more and more.”
With his passion for research, Mr. Tran Van Chung is a model veteran who was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Veterans Association of Tra Vinh Province and the title of “Excellent Vietnamese Farmers in 2022″ and one by the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Farmers’ Association of the top 100 farmers in Vietnam. Currently, the Vietnam Farmers’ Union Central Committee and the Provincial Farmers’ Association are conducting procedures to request the Prime Minister to award the certificate. Commendable…” said Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, Chairman of the Tra Vinh Provincial Farmers’ Union.
U70 farm seed drill
At present, farmers in Tra Vinh are urgently preparing to prepare the land for summer-autumn rice production with many different sowing methods such as:
Mr. Cong’s seed drill is known to many people because it can both reduce labor and improve rice yield. Picture: Ho Thao.
In order to improve the sowing phase, a farmer in Thanh My Township, Chau Thanh District (Tra Vinh Province) successfully built a seeder with high labor productivity, saving cost and labor and getting good results. This is the farmer Le Van Cong, although he is over 70 years old, he is still tinkering day and night to create a rowing machine with a petrol engine, a body 1.4 m wide, two wide iron wheels with a diameter of 1.2 m. The farmer also built a sprocket for the operator to run the machine at higher speeds.
“I find it difficult to hire workers now, so I built this machine to save labor. The normal machine spindle only has 10 cups, I made 14 cups. So while I soak the rice, I soak it for another day and night. So the better the rice germinates, the better it is, if the first meal is seeded, the next meal takes root, so the success rate is higher,” explained Mr.
Mr. Cong not only made a seeder, but also tinkered to make a highly sensitive mousetrap, he caught over 300 rats in the last rice harvest. Mr. Cong’s farming methods reduce both labor costs and rice productivity. Thanks to the application of these advances, his field increased the rice harvest last winter-spring, reaching 7-10 tons/ha …
Although this year is over 70 years old, farmer Le Van Cong is still working day and night researching and manufacturing a seeder, simple and effective mousetraps. Picture: Ho Thao.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, Chairman of Tra Vinh Provincial Farmers Association, Industrial Revolution 4.0 has paved the way for agriculture to develop in a whole new direction, to adapt and innovate based on technology and to meet the needs of Farmers, increasing demands from society and ensuring sustainable agricultural development.
In particular, thanks to the application of science and technology in production, the structure of agricultural production in the province continues to be adjusted in the direction of promoting the advantages of each locality in conjunction with the needs of the national and international market Adaptation to climate change.
In addition to enterprises, many cooperatives have boldly invested in technology mastery, built large-scale concentrated production zones and applied advanced technologies. Especially in rice production, many inventions not only solve the hard work and urgent seasonality, but with access to advanced machinery and equipment, farmers become more proactive and creative, creating and changing agricultural thinking to adapt to the times.
Science and technology is a really necessary direction in the 4.0 era, which is gradually changing the production landscape, farming habits and farmers’ thinking. Science and technology have crept into every garden, field or ranch, mechanized fields… have helped increase production efficiency and help farmers avoid getting muddy…