Nguyễn Văn Thiên Vũ personally monitors the drone on site. — VNA/VNS Photos

HÀ NỘI — To create sustainable livelihoods for farmers, Nguyễn Văn Thiên Vũ, an engineer in HCM City, has developed unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to assist farmers in enhancing their agricultural practices, marking a turning point in the agricultural sector.

Born in 1991, Vũ has had a great passion for manufacturing technology since he was a student majoring in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at HCM City’s University of Technology. Vũ began cherishing the dream of building aeroplanes and chose this topic for his graduation project.

After graduating, Vũ conducted official research and development of drones in various fields. He and his colleagues tested and developed several applications for military aircraft.

In 2015, Vũ and his colleagues realised the potential for drones in agriculture. However, at that time, drones were completely strange to farmers.

To better understand farmers' farming situation and needs, Vũ travelled to learn about agricultural production. He found that the farming methods were still manual and had not yet applied advanced and modern technologies.

He found that the application of drone technology to spray pesticides in farming was extremely necessary.

However, the journey to bring drone technology to the field was challenging.

Despite the benefits, Vũ found it hard to convince farmers to adopt new technology. Many farmers were sceptical because this technology was so different from how they had been farming before.

Others expressed concerns that agricultural planes would not be able to reach the underside of leaves where many pests liked to hide and lay their eggs.

Vũ faced the challenge of persuading farmers to try the new technology and overcome their reliance on old farming habits.

To dispel the doubts and questions of farmers, Vũ offered to spray a free sample on a field in southern Đồng Tháp Province. He divided the field into two parts and applied one part with high technology and the other using manual technology.

After just one crop, the farmer saw a clear effect in the field and applied high technology. It brought higher productivity.

Farmers started using this technology in their fields. The good news is that most large-scale agricultural farmers are responding to this technology.

“When spraying pesticides with human power, the amount of water falling will be uneven, infiltrating the soil, leading to a situation where agricultural products may have residues of pesticides. By using drones to spray it with fog particles, the leaves will penetrate well and receive the right amount of medicine so that they will grow well," he explained.

Encouraged by this success, Vũ and his team began introducing drones to large agricultural areas in the Mekong Delta region. They set up training, sales and service centres in the region.

To date, drone products have reached more than 30,000 households of farmers in more than 50 provinces and cities nationwide.

He said this innovative technology has replaced human labour, making agricultural production more productive and efficient while reducing the environmental pollution in manual agricultural production.

Vũ and his team member inspect the equipment manually before deploying it.

Vũ did not stop there. He has collaborated with the HCM City’s Central Youth Union to launch the "AgriVerse Virtual Universe" agricultural product platform.

Vũ said he is always concerned about the startup products, which can be valuable but often face difficulties in output.

Meanwhile, many people need to use clean agricultural products, but it isn't easy to access good quality products. The AgriVerse Virtual Universe platform aims to address these challenges and promote the use of clean agricultural products.

The agricultural product platform "AgriVerse Virtual Universe" was born as a new technology solution to help connect the startup products of rural youth with consumers in need through the Virtual Universe (Metaverse).

Like a regular e-commerce platform, buyers and sellers participating in AgriVerse can meet face-to-face, exchange, test 3D products, and negotiate prices.

Thanks to that, young entrepreneurs do not need to set up physical booths but only register for AgriVerse. Customers worldwide can access, visit the booth, exchange, buy and sell directly with entrepreneurs, Vũ said.

According to Vũ, this is considered a new direction for digitising Việt Nam's agriculture and promoting entrepreneurship among young people. There is expected to be 400 AgriVerse virtual agricultural product floors deployed across the country by 2025.

Virtual agricultural product floors have been deployed in 13 cities and provinces nationwide.

His innovative use of drones in agriculture has significantly contributed to creating sustainable livelihoods for farmers. Vũ has continued striving to improve rural communities' lives through technology and innovation.

With his contribution, Vũ is one of ten to receive the Outstanding Young Face Award in 2022 in the field of Business - Entrepreneurship of the city’s Central Youth Union. — VNS