(VOVworld) – Duong Xuan Qua, also known as Nam Nha, is a farmer in Long Xuyen city, An Giang province, a rice bowl in the Mekong river delta. His paddy dryer has helped farmers reduce post-harvest losses and increase profits. Thanh Tung reports:

After finishing high school, Qua stayed at home to do farm work. In 2002 thanks to support provided by his friends and relatives, Qua opened a workshop to produce iron gates. Once he visited a friend of his and stood for quite a long time staring at the propellers of a paddy dryer, for which his friend had paid a very high price. He thought, why couldn’t I produce such propellers to sell to farmers at a lower price. He decided to search for materials to produce propellers and a paddy dryer. His first paddy dryer, with a capacity of 10 tonnes, produced in 2003, is much cheaper than imported dryers. He said: “I did not attend any training course. I learned from other farmers and on my own.”

Qua began mass production of propellers for paddy dryers in 2005. He even established a company called Nam Nha to research and produce large paddy dryers, which cost 40% less than other dryers of the same capacity. Qua says that his customers come from two thirds of Vietnam and from Cambodia. In the Mekong River Delta alone, he has sold more than 1,300 Nam Nha paddy dryers since 2007, and 40 such dryers have been exported to Cambodia. Qua’s invention has received a number of awards and certificates of merit. Doan Ngoc Pha, Director of An Giang province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department, said: “Qua’s inventions are unique and cost effective. He is a pioneer in agricultural engineering.”         

In 2012 the Danish government paid half the cost of research, which reduced by two-thirds the manpower needed to operate Qua’s paddy dryer and increased its capacity to 100 tonnes. Qua said: “Vietnamese farmers used to prefer imported machines. My machine is much cheaper but is still a high quality product.”

Qua said passion and hard work are the keys to his success and he will continue to research ways to ease farm work in Vietnam.