After many years of research and experimentation, on February 22, the State-level Science and Technology Program “Serving the Industrialization and Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Areas” KC 07-25, coordinated by the Institute of Agricultural Machinery and Post-Harvest Technology in collaboration with the Agricultural Machinery Company, has successfully introduced a six-row mini rice transplanter into the fields.
The transplanter, named MC-6-250, is capable of planting seedlings in six evenly spaced rows, with a distance of 25 cm between each row. The machine operates in fields that are slightly flooded.
Dr. Lê Sỹ Hùng, the project leader of KC07-25, stated: “For each clump of seedlings, we can adjust the spacing, depth, and other parameters, similar to the principles used in machines from Japan, South Korea, and China. The advantage of this machine is that it plants in straight lines, and productivity can increase by 15-25% compared to manual planting.”
According to the designers’ calculations, the MC-6-250 rice transplanter, when used to plant a full hectare, consumes approximately 5 liters of diesel. In practice, farmers have observed significant efficiency improvements when using this mini transplanter.
Mr. Phạm Văn Yết, from Vạn Phúc Ward (Hà Đông-Hà Tây), shared: “The machine is very easy to operate; in one hour, it can plant 3 sào (about 0.3 hectares), and in 8 hours, it can cover 24 sào, equivalent to the work of 24 laborers planting by hand. It saves about 650,000 VND.”
Engineer Bùi Quốc Việt, Director of the Agricultural Machinery Company, added: “Currently, the price is around 15 million VND per unit. The company is striving to reduce this cost further to serve the farming community widely.“…
The successful development and testing of the six-row mini rice transplanter under the KC 07-25 science program have made the issue of land consolidation more urgent. It also raises the need to study and organize agricultural labor in rural areas rationally, as machinery gradually replaces traditional manual labor.
