(VOVworld) – Many farmers in Ho Chi Minh City have invented machines that increase productivity and improve product quality. These farmer engineers are important to Vietnam’s development of industrialized agriculture.  

President Tran Dai Quang meets representatives of outstanding cooperatives and cooperative groups, along with individual farmers with inventions in agricultural production in Hanoi on November 13, 2016. (Photo: Nhan Sang/ VNA)

Nguyen Trung Lap of Binh My hamlet, Cu Chi district, can take care of his 25 cow farm alone. He doesn’t need three workers as other households do. All phases of breeding – bathing, feeding, and watering – are done automatically by a system which Lap invented.

Lap’s best invention is a milking machine that monitors a cow’s heartbeat which made Lap one of 17 farmers honored by the Prime Minister at a ceremony to recognize innovations in agricultural production this year by outstanding cooperatives, cooperative groups, and individual farmers.

Nguyen Trung Lap told VOV about the equipment he has invented: “At first I thought it would only cost a few dozen US dollars. But in fact, I had to buy a new vehicle for research. It took a long time. It became a rule that the milking must be done in the morning and in the evening. If my research or my test wasn’t finished in time, it meant I failed.”

Nguyen Van Thach of An Phu Tay hamlet, Binh Chanh district, who has become rich from his system for raising ornamental fish, has an ornamental fish farm on an area of 500 square meters. All the water is circulated in a closed system which includes a water pump, electronic circuits to control water valves, 2 plastic barrels of about 15 cubic meters, one 10-cubic-meter container, a filter, and a system of plastic pipes. The system, which costs about 4,400 USD can raise 30 kilos of fish at a time. In 2 months, breeders can recoup their investment, Nguyen Van Thach said, adding: “I invented this system because it wasn’t available on the market. I found it essential for raising ornamental fish. I had to refine it again and again until finally I got it as it is today. It’s easy to control the system using mechanical methods. When a device breaks, farmers can replace it by themselves.”

Other inventions by HCM City’s farmers include a machine to feed shrimp raised with tilapia invented by farmer Vo Van Cong of Ly Nhon commune, Can Gio district; a system for watering vegetables controlled by mobile-phone messages invented by Bui Ngoc Minh Tam of An Lac ward, Binh Tan district; and an experimental model for treating aquatic microorganisms in shrimp farming that uses silver-dipped Nanozeolite invented by a farmer in Can Gio district.

Tran Truong Son, Deputy Chairman of the HCMC Farmers’ Association, said the city is gathering farmers who have created technological solutions to improve production and product quality into clubs of creative farmers and giving them practical support in raising capital and finding outlets for their products.

“The clubs, with support from the municipal Farmers’ Association and the Department of Science and Technology, will develop specific research projects. Scientists will join the effort to link farmers, the state, and enterprises to fully tap the creativity of farmers in 2017,” said Son.