Development of rice combines in Viet Nam #

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This is not a peer-reviewed article.
Electronic-only Proceedings of the International Conference on Crop Harvesting
and Processing, 11-14 February 2007 (Louisville, Kentucky USA)
Publication Date, 11 February 2007.
ASABE Publication Number 701P0307e

Full-Text PDF 

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Phan Hieu Hien, Tran Van Khanh# # , Graeme R. Quick ***
E-mail: phhien@hcm.vnn.vn

# Paper for presentation at the International Conference on Crop Harvesting and Processing,
February 11-14 2007, Louisville, Kentucky.
# # Lecturers, Nong-Lam University (formerly: University of Agriculture and Forestry), Ho-
Chi-Minh City, Viet Nam,
*** Consulting Engineer (Queensland, Australia) and Former Head, IRRI Agricultural
Engineering, Philippines.
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ABSTRACT

Rice combine development in Viet Nam, especially in the Mekong Delta in the South, has been a

slow process. Mechanized farm equipment is accepted only if it matches local agricultural conditions technically and economically. Earlier attempts at bringing in or developing combines by Central research institutes, Provincial factories, and farmer-mechanics were unsuccessful at actual scale operation. Three main problems were encountered over the past 20 years:

(1) Machines working in soft paddy fields bog down, especially heavy Western-style combines.

(2) Reliability at lowest cost is critical; delays caused by machine breakdowns result in significant

lost income during the harvest, and unreliability discourages users from adopting new technology.

(3) Harvesting severely lodged rice crops is challenging, not so much as an engineering problemas it is a matter of plant breeding and varietal selection to improve lodging resistance. Nevertheless there has been intensive development in the past 5 years by as many as 15 smallscale Vietnamese manufacturers. One mini-combine manufacturers has lately sold 90 units to private farmers across the country. In 2006 a combine contest was organized by the Vietnamese National Testing Agency. Three designs were given “accredited recognition awards”, meaning recognition for future promotion through the governmental Extension system. The recent development of mini-combines follows.

Keywords: Combine, Rice Harvesting, Mechanization