Turn old motorbike engines into farm tools

Ninh Binh Although he did not finish 5th grade, Mr. Vu Van Dung, 59 years old, has created rice transplanters, winches, and water pumps from old motorbike engines.

At noon in June, Mr. Dung's mechanical workshop located along Highway 12B in Yen Mac Commune, Yen Mo District was crowded with customers coming to place orders. Having just shipped the peanut harvester, he hurried back to the 200-square-meter workshop to complete a multi-purpose water pump ordered by a farmer in the Central region.

[Caption] vxcvx — Mr. Vu Van Dung in his home mechanical workshop. Photo: *Le Hoang*

Born into a large family in the rural area of Yen Mac, Mr. Dung did not finish the fifth grade of the village school. In his youth, he traveled to many places and did many jobs, but none of them were as enjoyable as repairing motorbikes. "Machinery and grease have been my destiny for more than 20 years," said Mr. Dung.

In 2005, Yen Mac had heavy rains right when people were harvesting winter-spring rice. The fields were flooded, harvesters could not reach them, farmers had to wade through the mud to carry bundles of rice to the shore. Seeing the people working hard in the deep fields, Mr. Dung came up with the idea of making a rice winch from an old motorbike engine.

He studied the operating principles of winches available on the market, and from there created his own product that was suitable for local production. At first, due to lack of experience, he disassembled and reassembled many times but still failed. Many people advised him to stop his "illusionary ideas" to avoid wasting money and effort. Relatives were also worried when they saw the large amount of money spent but no results.

[Caption]vzcvzd — Mr. Dung is making a harrow made from an old motorbike engine. Photo: *Le Hoang*

After more than two months of perseverance, he successfully created a rice winch "made in Vu Van Dung". When tested in the field, the machine brought unexpected results. Using only one winch, he could transport three sao of rice in a few dozen minutes instead of taking a whole day. The machine was compact, easy to move, and was designed with additional pipes to turn into a water pump when needed.

The first product was enthusiastically supported by the local people and became the best-selling agricultural tool at that time in the locality. Within a year, hundreds of winches were sold, reducing the labor of farmers and bringing a stable income to Mr. Dung's family.

That success motivated him to pursue his career in machine manufacturing. In 2015, he made a rice transplanter using materials from broken motorbikes and bicycles. He explained that his family had 5 hectares of rice, and repairing motorbikes took up all his time, so he could not help his wife with the farming. Seeing his wife working hard all year round, especially during the rice transplanting season, he hatched the idea of making a rice transplanter to replace human labor.

He searched for documents online, drew models, and parts of the transplanting machine filled a student's notebook. He erased every drawing because he was not satisfied. Many nights, he suddenly had an idea, he woke up to take notes and sketch. After two years of research, the motorless transplanting machine was born. Mr. Dung brought the machine to his family's field to try it out, and the productivity was 5 times higher than manual transplanting. The operator could adjust the speed as desired.

He said the advantages of the machine are that it does not consume fuel, the seedlings are planted in straight rows, and the distance between the seedlings is fixed at 18 cm. The machine weighs only 25-30 kg so it is easy to transport and repair, and can be used on many types of land with a planting capacity of one sao per hour.

[Caption]vkzvkl — Currently, "barefoot engineer" Vu Van Dung can manufacture many different types of machines such as water pumps, tractors, banana slicers, peanut pickers... Photo: *Le Hoang*

People in the area came to see and were surprised, asking to buy the first machines that came out of the factory. Mr. Dung made hundreds more products to sell in the market inside and outside the province, each cost 4 million VND, minus expenses, the profit was about 2 million VND.

The motorless rice transplanter helped Mr. Dung be honored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as one of 17 farmers with inventions and initiatives in the agricultural sector. He also won the Talent Encouragement Award (Vietnam Talent 2017), the 81st Ninh Binh Province Technical Innovation Competition award with the multi-function plow product.

Currently, in addition to rice transplanters, Mr. Dung also uses old motorbike and electric car engines to make water pumps, tractors, banana slicers, peanut pickers...

Mr. Pham Van Viet, Vice Chairman of Yen Mac Commune, assessed that the agricultural tools made by Mr. Vu Van Dung are suitable for Vietnamese soil and are often cheaper than similar products on the market. "He is a shining example of the spirit of learning and passion for creativity," said Mr. Viet.

Currently, Mr. Dung's mechanical workshop has three employees with stable income. After deducting expenses, he has a revenue of nearly 500 million VND each year.

Le Hoang

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