Phùng Văn Nam (left) introduces his bed-making machine to a farmer. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Thương

Nam, 42, was born in Minh Tân Commune, Lương Tài District, the northern province of Bắc Ninh.

Due to his family’s economic hardship, Nam had to drop out of school after finishing grade six to help his parents with household chores.

“I have experienced many jobs, including farmer, blacksmith and mechanic. Going to many places, working many jobs, I understand the people’s hardships, and the idea of researching and inventing agricultural machinery started in me,” said Nam.

Nam was concerned when he saw that the farmers, despite using machines to till the land, still had to make the beds with hoes and rakes, which resulted in low productivity.

In 2013, he bought an old cultivator machine made from Japan and improved it to suit the needs of people.

Without professional knowledge, and not knowing much about machines, he made his own ideas combined with research on the internet.

After many times of trying and assembling, many nights of staying awake, with the determination to complete the product, he succeeded with his first invention – a portable mini bed-making machine.

The handheld cultivator was improved from the old Japanese cultivator and can be adjusted to different bed sizes.

Local people are very excited about the machine.

From the initial success, he cherished manufacturing a cultivator which could make five different beds.

He succeeded with such a machine one year later.

Immediately after its launch, the product became an effective assistant for farmers.

The machine can make five different types of beds, including carrot beds with a bed surface of 45cm and height of 30cm; vegetable beds with sizes from 90-100cm; watermelon beds with sizes of 140-160 cm; melon beds with size of 130-150cm; and onion beds with size from 80-100cm.

Nam continues to manufacture a machine for sugarcane planting and crop irrigation pipes.

He also makes a tool for digging holes with a depth of 60- 90cm, diameter of 40-60cm in just one minute (if manual digging will take many hours).

These machines all meet the practical needs of farmers and are widely used for modern agriculture.

Having used Nam's bed-making machine for a long time, Nguyễn Văn Thái, who lives in Minh Tân Commune, said that before, with no machines, farming was very hard.

When making the beds, they must use hoes and rakes, leading to low productivity, and sometimes they cannot complete the crop in time.

Nam’s machine can make beds for 360sq.m in only about 20 minutes. It used to take farmers one day to do such work, said Thái.

To introduce his products, Nam set up a Youtube channel and regularly uploads videos and answers customers' questions about them.

He also directly guides customers to use products suitable for local terrain and soil types.

With many preeminent features, his products are not only trusted by people in the district, in the province, and in other provinces and cities across the country.

Now, on average, Nam's workshop provides 200 products to the market annually, creating jobs for five workers with an income of VNĐ10-12 million (US$420-500) per person per month.

His workshop earns a profit of VNĐ400 million ($16,700) per year.

Nam said he would improve his products to meet the increasing needs of the people.

He will actively research to create more products that support agricultural activities, and increase productivity and profits.

Deputy chairman of the Bắc Ninh Farmers’ Association Đào Duy Hữu said that Nam was a good farmer and passionate about creativity.

His products were suitable for practical needs, widely applied in farmers’ work, meeting scientific advances in the agricultural industry, he said.

The machines contributed to local economic development, said Hữu.

With innovative products that bring high economic efficiency, Nam was awarded a certificate of merit by the chairman of the Bắc Ninh Province People's Committee for his outstanding achievements in the patriotic emulation campaign in the period 2015-20.

He won the first prize in a competition organised by the Bắc Ninh Farmers' Association in 2020.

He was honoured as a scientist of farmers by the Central Committee of Việt Nam Farmers' Association (CCVFA) in the same year.

He was also honoured by the CCVFA as an outstanding farmer this year. — VNS