“I choose to serve Vietnamese farmers with kindness”

Nguyen Van Thien Vu, the CEO of AgriDrone, Vietnam

While busy with business trips around the country in mid-March, Thien Vu was informed with good news from the Central Youth Union that he was selected as one of the ten typical young Vietnamese of the year 2022.

Talking with Thua Thien Hue Weekly, Thien Vu confided: “In addition to serving farmers with kindness, I’d like to train the young generation, who are always looking for new things, to work not only with passion and enthusiasm, but also for the sake of customers”.

How do you feel when you were informed about being selected as typical young Vietnamese of the year?

I am a bit surprised and proud to receive this valuable award from the Central Youth Union. Previously, I have had cooperation with the Central Youth Union in creating “the virtual platform for agricultural produces, AgriVerse”. This is considered a new technology solution to help introduce start-up products of rural youth to consumers in need.

Nguyen Van Thien Vu – one of the ten young Vietnamese of the year 2022

This technology will allow thousands of “stores” and countless products to be displayed there without spending any money for business premises. Currently, this trading platform is used by rural youth in 14 provinces/cities and will be expanded to be available for young farmers all 63 provinces and cities by 2025.

You are often known as a pioneer in bringing "iron wings" - drones to Vietnamese paddy fields to help farmers with their works. How did it start?

The dream that came true started when I was a student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. In 2012, I carried out research in balance systems with the ambition of inventing a balanced one-wheeled vehicle. But later, as fate turned, the process of researching its controller involved the flight system. I studied the flight system then and realized that it was a system applicable in many fields in the future.

My thesis was also related to drones. After graduation, I was determined to conquer this technology and look for investors.

At first, I divided work into stages and called for assistance in a “rolling” style, which means I called for capitals based on what I had done. Fortunately, I met many collaborators with the same passion and then joined in the journey with me.

Everything seemed good, didn’t it?

Not really. It was not a simple journey to the present. I was quite spontaneous when I was studying drones and I didn’t have a plan of a particular area. When I did the research, at times it related to military applications, at other times, it related to geodesy and cartography, and went through areas of media, and even entertainment.

Nguyen Van Thien Vu was honored as one of the ten young Vietnamese of the year 2022

As for large-scale drones used in agriculture, it wasn't until 2015 that I started to work on at the client’s orders. I didn’t think much and I was excited when someone ordered something. Ironically, when the product was first presented, it was not accepted in the market because the new technology was considered illusory.

Normally, farmers pump 400 liters of water (mixed with sprays) for a hectare of rice field, but they only need 10-20 liters using my technology. Consumers think it's absurd and challenge “It still doesn’t work pumping 400 liters; how can it work if the amount of water is reduced by 20-40 times?”

Then they doubted my knowledge and understanding about agriculture as they think I was a student who had just graduated from university while they were experienced with agricultural life.

And how did you overcome the difficulty?

I tried to explain but it seemed that no one was convinced at that time. This made me lose my confidence in myself. The project was ceased until 2018 when a foreign agricultural corporation wanted to try and deploy this technology in Vietnamese market. Fortunately, I was asked to provide technical support to operate the drones during the trial.

This corporation has been very successful in 2 crop seasons in many rice farming areas across the country. Thanks to actual results, along with the study of the technology “at the right time”, the technology was accepted by farmers.

In the early days that the “iron wings” was flying over the paddy fields, I was confident and dared to make promises to farmers. If my work helped with high productivity, the farmer would benefit all. On the contrary, if the performance did not meet their expectation, I would compensate them. When the success was beyond expectations, information continued to spread, farmers constantly contacted AgriDrone Vietnam.

Can you tell me more about the advantages of drone applications in agriculture?

If a farmer sprayed manually, the amount of water coming out of the nozzle should be 250-450 liters/ha, considering the hand wave speed of 5km/h.

But when using drone, due to fast flight speed, only 10-20 liters of water are needed. The amount of water depends on the technology. In addition to saving water, this technology help saving sprays, and much effort of farmers. Currently, a drone has a capacity of 50-100 times more than a human.

According to our calculations, we have saved 1.5 billion liters of water thanks to the application of this technology for the past 5 years. In farming, this reduces the emission of methane causing greenhouse effect, limits environmental pollution and ensures farmers’ health.

What about the application of drones in agricultural activities in Hue?

The application in Hue market has its own direction, which is different from the way it has been implemented in the Mekong Delta or provinces in the Southeastern regions and the Central Highlands.

Fields in Hue are quite small, and this makes it difficult to deploy the drone, but I believe there will be positive changes in the coming time. However, this is my homeland market, and I return to serve my homeland. Despite its slow development, it is in this land that I have found another way out.

There are many talented young people in Hue, but they have not had appropriate opportunities to develop. This is an opportunity for human resource development for businesses if they see it. Most of my employees in branches across the country come from Central region.

I’d like to help young people in Hue and in Central Vietnam to have the opportunity to work in the professional atmosphere of the corporation. They will be able to learn, grow and have influences on the next generation. Hopefully, the working atmosphere in AgriDrone Vietnam will help them experience, reflect and self-improve to get further ahead.

Thank you, Thien Vu!