Traditional farming methods plus scattered cultivation areas have led to poor agricultural production in Mai Dinh commune. Hanoi’s Agricultural Promotion Center has cooperated with Mai Dinh communal authorities to encourage local farmers to apply modern machines in their farm work. Nguyen Van Bac, a local farmer, said his family had numerous difficulties cultivating their fields which are scattered. With the local authorities’ instruction, Bac’s family and other households decided to rezone their farm land to make it easier to transport machines to the fields. Bac told VOV: "Mechanized agriculture with rezoned fields has helped us reduce much of our labor. We no longer have to pull pumps a long way to the fields. This has saved us much money."

Deputy Chairman of Mai Dinh communal People’s Committee, Le Dang Minh, said the commune has spent 75,000 USD to buy combine harvest machines, water pumps, plough machines, and other modern farm equipment. This has significantly increased productivity. A hectare of farm land can be sowed in just 30 minutes. Combine harvest machines can save local farmers up to 70% over traditional farming methods: "Enhancing productivity is one of many ways to improve local people’s living standard. We’ve acknowledged the importance of comprehensive agricultural mechanization and during this process farmers are divided into small groups that provide separate farming services."


Agricultural mechanization has helped farmers reduce their costs by 1/3. They have also established collectives to provide services to farmers in need. Nguyen Van Tri, Director of Hanoi’s Agricultural Promotion Center, said: "One of the national new rural development program’s criteria is to keep 30% of laborers engaged in farm work while 70% shift to other trades. Agricultural mechanization contributes to this goal by addressing 3 problems: using modern machines to improve production, encouraging farmers to rezone their fields, and developing the collectives’ role in supporting farm production with necessary equipment and services."