The 6th annual Combine Harvester Contest, sponsored by Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and agricultural sector companies, was held in Binh Dinh Province on 7 -12 April.
The event aims to promote the development of the combine harvester industry to meet farmers’ growing needs. This year, it demonstrated how public and private sectors are working together to continuously improve combine harvesting technologies while highlighting the needs of farmers in other provinces.
The contest was open to both local and overseas manufacturers and suppliers of combine harvesters and featured 4 Vietnamese, 3 Chinese, and 1 Korean models.
The combines were judged by a 9-member panel according to capacity, stability, shattering losses, paddy purity, fuel consumption, and maneuverability. MARD Vice Minister Bui Ba Bong awarded 1st place, two 2nd places, two 3rd places and 1 encouragement award to the particpating combine harvester manufacturers.
As a special cross-country learning activity, the IRRI-ADB Postharvest Learning Alliance sponsored 11 Cambodian government and private sector representatives to attend the annual event to learn how to organize a similar activity in Cambodia as well as foster cross-country linkages between agro-machinery manufacturers, distributors, and component suppliers. Vietnam Postharvest Learning Alliance members coordinated the arrangements for the Cambodian participants.
The Learning Alliance also sponsored “Opportunities for Rice Combine Harvesters in Cambodia,” a round-table discussion attended by government representatives from research, extension, and trade, and private sector manufacturers, distributors, and component suppliers from both Vietnam and Cambodia.
The Mekong Delta region, in particular, has a high rate of combine harvester adoption (around 90%) in recent years, driven by labor shortages and needs to reduce physical and quality losses in the postharvest processing chain.
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