Realizing that in the increasingly scarce agricultural labor conditions, without mechanization, it would be difficult to succeed, Mr. Pham Van Huong (Dong hamlet, Khanh Hoa commune, Yen Khanh district) spent billions of dong to buy a series of modern machines, from plows in the fields to drones, thereby helping his family and other households in the area to free up labor, reduce production costs, and improve economic efficiency.
Arriving at Mr. Pham Van Huong's house on a day at the end of April, right when he and the mechanics were repairing and maintaining 5 harvesters to prepare to bring them to Quang Tri for harvesting, we were still surprised when we went deeper into the warehouse and saw a series of tillage machines, straw rollers, transplanters, and the latest generation of high-capacity spraying planes.
Looking at us with "round eyes, flat eyes", Mr. Huong began to tell the story of his career and journey towards "a field without footprints". Accordingly, about ten years ago, when factories and industrial zones in the province sprung up, the young and healthy labor force almost all went to work as workers, only the elderly and women stayed in the fields, while the work was hard and the income was not worth much. That is why the situation of abandoning fields and crops is common in many villages.
Feeling sad when seeing fertile land with weeds growing, in 2013, Mr. Huong put aside his technical work at the construction site to return to his hometown to start a farming business. In addition to his family's fields, he went to all the villages and hamlets, and when he saw any household that did not have the need to cultivate, he hired them to do so, regardless of the size of the fields, even a few meters. Gradually, when the area reached tens of hectares, Mr. Huong realized that human strength could no longer handle it, and there was no other way but to bring in machines to replace them. So in addition to plows and harvesters, he bought trucks, straw rollers, transplanters, and most recently, a G500A agricultural aircraft with many integrated functions such as: spraying pesticides, fertilizing, sowing seeds, etc. Now, all rice cultivation processes are done by machine.
"Applying science and technology, applying mechanization, ensuring a consistent time frame in the care process, so the rice grows and develops healthily, avoiding risks due to weather and diseases, reducing labor costs, fertilizers, pesticides, and reducing post-harvest losses... My family is currently cultivating 107 hectares of rice fields, but on average each stage (plowing, transplanting, harvesting) only takes about 10-15 days to complete. In the remaining time, I take advantage of the machine to provide services to people in and outside the province" - Mr. Huong said.
Thanks to concentrated production on large fields and synchronous application of mechanization in all stages, the production cost for 1 hectare of rice of Mr. Huong's family is only half that of normal production. From more than 100 hectares of rice fields, each year he earns 270-300 tons of rice, after deducting expenses, he still has a profit of more than 500 million VND. In addition, there is income from planting, plowing, spraying and supplying materials to people. The total annual income of the family is nearly 1 billion VND. This is indeed a dream number for many people, but to achieve this success, Mr. Huong had to go through many hardships and challenges.
"There are certain difficulties and obstacles in doing anything. Although I have studied mechanical engineering before, not all machines I buy can operate immediately. Moreover, each field is different. If it is flat, it is okay. Sometimes, if you are not careful, the machine will get stuck in muddy terrain. Moving the machine up and down and between fields is also a big problem. In addition, agricultural production also contains many risks due to natural disasters and epidemics. There are years of crop failure, when the family cannot harvest rice, and when working for hire, we cannot get money, and finances are difficult... But after all, up to now, all work has been running smoothly and stably," said Mr. Huong.
According to Mr. Huong, in addition to his own and his family's efforts, the support policies of the province and district, especially the group of policies supporting agricultural mechanization in Resolution 32/2022/NQ-HDND of the Provincial People's Council, are the driving force that helps him achieve the results he has today.
Mr. Ngo Xuan Truong, Director of Khanh Hoa Cooperative, commented: Getting rich from agriculture is not a simple matter, but Mr. Huong has done it. In particular, Mr. Huong's development and provision of a variety of agricultural services to local people also helps solve the problem of abandoned fields and crops, developing local agricultural production in a professional, modern direction, reducing costs and improving economic efficiency. For example, in the current winter-spring crop, the situation of pests and diseases is complicated, but thanks to Mr. Huong's family's drone spraying service, more than 400 hectares of rice of the cooperative were sprayed simultaneously and at the right time, so the prevention and control efficiency was very high, while the cost was only half that of manual spraying, all members of the cooperative were excited.
Article and photos: Nguyen Luu
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