Farmer Ut Chi makes rice tractor for export

Article and photos: AN NAM

Without formal training in mechanics and manufacturing techniques, but with his "blood" of invention, Mr. Nguyen Quang Chi (Ut Chi), residing in Tan Ha B hamlet, Tan Hoa commune, Tan Hiep district ( Kien Giang ) has successfully manufactured a series of multi-purpose and convenient machines. With this success, Mr. Ut Chi not only helps farmers reduce the hardship in the fields but also exports abroad, contributing to affirming the talent and intelligence of Vietnamese people.

With rubber tracks, the agricultural tractor manufactured by Mr. Nguyen Quang Chi can easily move on all terrains and is resistant to sinking when operating in muddy environments.

With 5 siblings, as the youngest son in the family, Ut Chi is the one who followed his father's career as a farm machinery repairman. Ut Chi often followed his father to plow the land for hire for the people in the commune. His childhood was spent in the fields, and growing up with the hardships of his parents on the fields has instilled in him the desire to find solutions to help farmers reduce their hardship.

In 2004, his family bought a combine harvester for hire. Three years later, realizing that mechanization of the fields was an inevitable trend, Mr. Chi discussed with his family about importing combine harvesters to sell. "In the same year, the Chinese-made harvesters broke down continuously without spare parts, so I decided to buy machinery and equipment to produce spare parts myself. With a set of tools, I researched and produced the first rice truck," Mr. Chi said. After the initial successes in manufacturing rice trucks, Mr. Chi found ways and successfully exported rice trucks to the Philippines, Africa, the Middle East, Central America and South America since 2014.

Realizing that the land in the Mekong Delta has the characteristics of weak and muddy ground due to growing rice 3 crops/year, the rice tractor made of rubber wheels is easily bogged down and difficult to move. So Mr. Chi again rushed into research, looking for ways to overcome the disadvantages of the rice tractor. With the diligence and creativity of a farmer, Mr. Chi found a solution to help the tractor move smoothly on all terrains by replacing the rubber wheels with a crawler system with a wide ground contact surface. With this improvement, Mr. Chi's rice tractor is able to resist bogging down when operating in muddy environments, especially in fields with weak or flooded ground.

The machine designed by Mr. Chi weighs 2.06 tons, has a load capacity of 5 tons, and a diesel engine with a capacity of 56kW/2,400 rpm/75HP. The mechanical gearbox with a gear shifting mechanism of 6 forward and 2 reverse helps the machine move flexibly. In particular, this tractor was improved by Mr. Chi to use a one-way hydraulic lifting system to help the agricultural tool automatically lift and lower when encountering obstacles. The machine has been inspected by the competent authority and certified to meet the international standard ISO 9001:2015. Mr. Chi is currently completing the procedures to register intellectual property rights for his "brainchild".

On the occasion of the opening of the year of the Cat 2023, Mr. Chi's company successfully exported 2 containers with 18 crawler tractors and tillers to the Philippine market according to the order from the partner. This is an improved agricultural tractor with "2 in 1" features. The machine integrates both functions of transporting agricultural products and connecting agricultural tools to prepare the soil before sowing. "I have installed a trenching, tilling, embankment building rig, integrating many functions into the rice tractor so that farmers can do more work, saving more labor and costs...", Mr. Chi informed.

To satisfy his passion for creativity, Mr. Chi has invested in a 6,500m2 mechanical workshop, at the same time, invested in a manufacturing robot system, equipped with production technology imported from advanced countries in the world . Mr. Chi said he will focus on developing the domestic crawler tractor market, increasing the workshop's manufacturing capacity from 2 machines/day to 3 machines/day.

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