Quite common use These days, Mr. Phan Thanh Thai (Dien Son commune, Dien Khanh district) is always busy collecting straw in the field of Lung bridge. From the day the field was harvested, his straw rolling machine had to work continuously to ensure that the straw was not wet or slowed down. Mr. Thai said that in the past, he received a contract to supply rice straw to other places, but it had to be done manually. Recently, he invested in buying a straw rolling machine and then connected it to a plow to deploy the machine. In addition, he also rented a straw rolling machine to secure the contract to supply straw rolls to the provinces and cities: Phan Thiet, Phan Rang, Lam Dong. 1 straw rolling machine ensures a productivity of 500 rolls/day, each roll weighs 20kg. Harvesting straw in the field of Cau Lung, Dien Khanh. The mechanization of straw handling by a straw rolling machine is now quite popular. Mr. Nguyen Truong Sanh – Director of Dien Lac Agricultural Cooperative (Dien Khanh) said that Dien Lac farmers have been selling straw rolls for several years now. Dien Lac Commune has 180ha of 2-crop rice, more than 50% of the area is used for straw rolling machines, except for the small and fragmented area located in residential areas and flooded areas that cannot be harvested. Harvesting straw by machine helps to save labor, straw is used for many purposes such as making mushrooms, root cabinets, fodder for cattle… Currently, on average, 1ha of harvested rice is purchased for 600,000 VND, help farmers have more income from straw. The cooperative makes a contract with the person who has the machine, sells straw to customers in need and pays debts of the cooperative members to the cooperative from selling straw. According to Mr. Nguyen Kien – Chairman of the Farmers’ Association of Cam Tan commune, Cam Lam district, recently, farmers in the commune have also known to sell rolled straw to customers. Large fields are mostly harvested by machine, estimated 70-80%. The commune is encouraging farmers to use biological products to treat rice straw to improve the soil. Should replenish the land The advantages of machine harvesting are clear, however, through the sale of straw, harvesting by machine also raises controversial issues. Users of the machine believe that, in addition to the above advantages, the use of straw rolling machines also helps to cut off the source of pest spread in the field from untreated straw, preventing the next rice crop from being poisoned with straw. untreated straw, and at the same time resists smoke pollution from burning copper… People who are worried about the depletion of soil colorants think that the sale of rolled straw should not be encouraged, because in this way the source of nutrients From the straw is increasingly lost, the soil will gradually degrade because of the lack of organic matter, the yield will decrease in the following crops if there is no other source of fertilizer to compensate. Both of the above comments are valid. However, in fact, for a long time, farmers have paid little attention to nutrients for the soil, leading to poorer soil quality, especially in the one-crop rice area. If in the past, when inorganic fertilizers were not widely used, the soil was difficult to degrade because farmers used a lot of organic fertilizers to fertilize crops, even cooperatives were worried about buying fertilizers from the northern provinces. such as Lam Thao and Van Dien for farmers. Currently, farming in the way of “instant noodles”, running with inorganic fertilizers makes the soil increasingly degraded, so the source of fertilizer from rotting straw is meaningful. Therefore, agricultural extension officers advise that harvesting straw by machine is still necessary and suitable with the current level of technology. Farmers need to pay attention to the issue of nourishing the soil when taking away the source of rice straw, funding from the source of selling straw. Only in this way can the role of mechanical machinery be promoted, and at the same time the arable land is not degraded and degraded. VL

The smart rice transplanter that combines the functions of sowing, cultivating rice, fertilizing, and spraying pesticides has been applied at An Nhut Agricultural and Service Cooperative from 2019. LABOR REMUNERATION Over 15 years of growing pepper, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Phuong (Tan Hoa village, Bau Chinh commune, Chau Duc district) said that in the past, from tending to harvesting, he had to do it by hand. To water 2.5 ha of pepper, 2 labor takes 7-8 hours to complete. In 2017, he invested 40 million VND in installing a drip irrigation system. Mr. Phuong commented, compared to the traditional irrigation method, drip irrigation has many outstanding advantages such as: saving water, minimizing water loss, making the soil always fresh and porous; Saving water pump electricity and reducing labor. In addition, this irrigation system can also combine fertilizer, medicine and irrigation water through the drip tips. “From the day of installing the automatic watering system, every time I water the garden, I just turn on the circuit breaker, set the hour and go to other jobs. In addition to reducing labor, the automatic irrigation system also helps to save water. In the past, the average amount of watering was 300m3 / ha / time, since the application of drip irrigation has been reduced to 60m3 / ha ”, Mr. Phuong compared. In the rice fields of farmers in Phuoc Hoi, Lang Dai, Long Tan, Phuoc Long Tho communes (Dat Do district), the system of machines such as tillage and transportation machines, water pumps, combine harvesters, Harvesting in series, rice dryers appeared more and more, gradually replacing the labor force of farmers. Information from the Department of Agriculture of Dat Do district shows that more than 16,000 hectares of cultivated rice by farmers have used almost 100% machinery in the stages of soil preparation and harvesting. Mr. Nguyen Van Tam, an agricultural officer in Phuoc Long Tho commune, said that almost all stages of rice production in the locality have been mechanized. With the implementation of agricultural mechanization, when sowing sowing, there were plows and land-plowing machines, when the harvest time, there was a combine harvester to serve at the place. In addition to bringing about higher economic efficiency, the application of mechanization also solves one of the difficult stages of the agricultural sector today, which is the source of labor when only 1-2 operators and use are possible. work, help farmers reduce labor costs. CONTINUOUS SUPPORTING MACHINERY IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, at present, the province has more than 400 types of machines serving the mechanization of agricultural production, with the number of more than 105 thousand units. In which, machinery is concentrated mainly in stages such as soil preparation, irrigation, spraying of pesticides, transportation and fishing means. The stages of harvesting, preliminarily processing and preserving agricultural products currently only stop at a number of models of applying preliminary processing technology and preserving vegetables and fruits after harvest. The average level of mechanization of the stages in agricultural production such as: land preparation reaches 100%; 80% of care and spraying of plant protection products; the harvest stage reaches 40%; 30% drying stage. The application of agricultural mechanization has contributed to reducing labor, ensuring seasonality, increasing productivity, quality and reducing post-harvest losses. Mr. Vu Ngoc Dang, Deputy Director of the Rural Development Sub-Department (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development), said implementing the policy of developing household economy in agriculture and fisheries (Resolution 05/2018 / NQ-HDND) and policies to support equipment and materials for the development of cooperatives in the agricultural sector in the period of 2019-2020 (Resolution 39/2018 / NQ-HDND), up to now, the Sub-Department has supported more than 300 machines and equipment. serving production with more than 250 households / cooperatives operating in the agricultural sector such as sowing machines, burying fertilizers for An Nhut Agricultural and Service Cooperative; Package irrigation system, tillers, chain saws for Thai Duong Agricultural Cooperative … In the coming time, the Department will coordinate with localities to continue reviewing and making statistics on the number of machines and equipment; from there to build production plans towards focusing on developing plants and animals with strengths, competitiveness and in accordance with the province’s development planning. “For the project of agricultural mechanization and the application of post-harvest technology (under the Scheme on restructuring the agricultural sector of BR-VT province in the direction of increasing added value and sustainable development to 2020, vision to 2030), after being approved by the competent authority, the Sub-Department will coordinate with relevant departments and agencies to organize propaganda and mobilization of post-harvest agricultural mechanization through models, project points, seminars, seminars ”, Mr. Vu Ngoc Dang more information.