(VOVworld) – With rapid industrialization and modernization, Bac Ninh province has seen a sharp decrease in the number of rural workers in recent years. In response, Bac Ninh has rezoned fields and boosted mechanization to improve productivity. VOV’s Vu Huong reports….

Mo Dao was the first hamlet of Bac Ninh’s Que Vo district to complete field-rezoning. Mo Dao rice fields now cover thousands of square kilometers and are surrounded by paved roads, which has made it easier to move multi-functional tractors, ploughs and harvesters, to the fields. Nguyen Duc Nam, a member of the Mo Dao Agricultural Service Cooperative, said these are the initial steps on the path to realizing the farmer’s dream of replacing human labor with machines: "The provincial Agricultural Department and the People’s Committee provided local farmers with 20,000 USD to speed up mechanization in agricultural production, which has brought us significant results just one year later. We have seen high productivity thanks to the application of modern machines, about 10% higher than with human labor. We can save two month of working time using combine harvesters.

Since Bac Ninh began rezoning fields and boosting mechanization in agricultural production in 2005, the province has completed all field rezoning, resulting in vast rice fields across the province.

After field rezoning was completed, Bac Ninh boosted the application of advanced technologies in agriculture to improve productivity. Phan Dinh Tuan, Director of the Bac Ninh Provincial Agricultural and Fishery Promotion Center, said Bac Ninh now has approximately 5000 tractors, more than 3000 harvesters, and 60 combine harvesters. A machine can replace 40 farmers and reduce the loss percentage to under 3%, improving agricultural produce quality and economic efficiency: "Advanced technologies have improved productivity and eased the hard work of farming. Bac Ninh now has more than 900 seeding machines used on more than 5000 ha of farmland."

Bac Ninh authorities have encouraged local farmers to expand their production scale and increase profits by applying modern technology. This has helped to restructure the local economy by shifting rural laborers to other trades. Vo Minh Hieu is Deputy Director of the Bac Ninh provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: "Agricultural mechanization has focused on preparing the soil, watering, and rice picking while neglecting seeding, harvesting, and post-harvest preservation. To correct this, we have set up a project to apply advanced farming technologies in the period 2011-2015."

Amid rapid urbanization and industrialization, Bac Ninh’s policy of rezoning fields and boosting mechanization has helped the province successfully complete its implementation of the national rural development program.