When farmers begin planting rice with technology

On a late-February morning, fields in Dong Mau Hamlet, Yen Cuong Commune, were still wet from an overnight rain. A thin sheet of water covered the mud. In surrounding plots, rice plants were nearing the tillering stage. Yet on a roughly 2-hectare pilot field, there was not a single farmer bent over transplanting seedlings, as in years past.

Instead, two row-seeding machines equipped with fertilizer injectors moved steadily back and forth across the field. Each pass left behind straight, parallel lines. Mud parted gently along the crawler tracks, revealing narrow furrows where seeds had already been placed beneath the soil.

Hundreds of local farmers gathered along the embankments, watching with curiosity. For the moment, they were less concerned about varieties or pest control than about the machine’s path and a simple question: would it work?

Fields without footprints

Nguyen Van Du, chairman of the Nam Cuong Agricultural Cooperative, spoke almost to himself as he prepared to trial the new technique: “Manual transplanting is no longer sustainable.”

The cooperative includes around 1,600 households cultivating more than 200 hectares of rice. But fewer people are working in the fields. Younger residents have taken factory jobs; those remaining are largely older. Each transplanting season requires substantial labor, which is increasingly hard to hire, even when farmers can afford it.

On a 360-square-meter plot, labor and traditional machine costs now total about 800,000 VND (roughly USD 32). As a result, most households grow rice largely for subsistence. Concepts such as grain quality or emission reductions feel distant.

Yet the machines humming across the pilot field forced many to reconsider. They can complete the same work at roughly one-third of the cost. The 2-hectare plot required less than an hour for both seeding and fertilizer application.

As the machines turned, evenly spaced rows became visible across the surface. Beneath the mud, seeds were placed about 5 centimeters from fertilizer deposits. Narrow drainage channels followed the tracks.

Nguyen Van Hung, senior scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and technical advisor for the project, knelt to scoop up a handful of soil. The technology, already tested in the Mekong Delta, does more than speed up planting, he explained. It changes how the rice plant develops. Roots grow toward precisely positioned fertilizer, improving nutrient uptake and exposure to sunlight.

Stronger root systems help plants stand firm, reducing lodging. Nitrogen fertilizer use can drop by about 30 percent. Pest pressure declines, reducing pesticide use. Shallow flooding is less likely to kill seedlings than under conventional broadcasting methods. Replanting is rarely necessary.

Row seeding combined with deep fertilizer placement has been applied in the Mekong Delta since 2024. According to Nguyen Van Hieu, a lecturer at Tien Giang University and IRRI consultant, the method has raised yields there by 5 to 10 percent.

In northern Vietnam, however, the process requires adjustments. Fields must be precisely leveled, with elevation differences kept within 5 centimeters. Seeding techniques, pest management, and post-harvest straw handling also need refinement.

Farmers were initially skeptical. After several seasons, they became accustomed to the significant labor savings. In the Red River Delta, transplanting costs can fall from about 200,000 VND per 360-square-meter plot to roughly 30,000 VND.

The benefits extend beyond lower expenses. Crops are less prone to lodging, post-harvest losses decline, and grain uniformity improves, raising market prices by several hundred dong per kilogram.

The variety selected for the Yen Cuong model is Thien Uu 8, developed by the Vietnam National Seed Group (Vinaseed), known for resilience under adverse conditions and suitability for intensive cultivation. Duong Quang Sau, Vinaseed’s deputy general director, stressed that the goal is not maximum yield but stable quality capable of supporting long-term purchase contracts. Consistency across fields matters more than record harvests in individual plots.

As input costs fall and quality stabilizes, farmers begin focusing more on price than sheer output. Profit calculations shift accordingly. Income depends less on the number of rice sacks harvested than on managing production costs efficiently.

More than a single crop

Following administrative boundary adjustments, Ninh Binh now has the largest rice-growing area in the Red River Delta, with approximately 135,000 hectares. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment hopes results from Yen Cuong will soon be replicated widely.

The crop production sector aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 15 percent by 2035, moving toward net-zero emissions by 2050. Among crops, rice accounts for the highest emissions. The new process not only reduces fertilizer and water use but also incorporates a measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) system to confirm emission reductions. That framework could enable traceability and classification by production method, potentially increasing rice prices.

The Yen Cuong pilot uses just 45 kilograms of seed per hectare, about 60 to 70 percent less than conventional broadcasting methods.

For Nguyen Sinh Tien, deputy director of the Ninh Binh Department of Agriculture and Environment, the ambition of building a green agricultural brand is within reach. Achieving it depends less on modern machinery than on changes in farmer habits: reducing fertilizer and pesticide use, avoiding straw burning, and following coordinated cropping schedules.

Small plots will be consolidated so large agricultural machinery can operate efficiently, creating “fields without footprints” where every stage, from seeding to harvest, is mechanized. Training sessions are already addressing fundamentals: more thorough land preparation, precise leveling, and draining fields six to twelve hours before machine seeding.

By midday, the machines halted at the edge of the field. Straight lines of newly sown rows stretched toward the dike. Observers were no longer asking whether to try the model, but when it would expand to their own plots.

The landscape remained unchanged, mud, water, and the wind of the late spring season. What was changing was the way people worked upon it, steadily and persistently, like the machines that moved across the fields that morning.

This is not the first time Nam Cuong Cooperative has tested new production techniques. A year earlier, it adopted a straw collection machine supplied by IRRI to convert residue into organic fertilizer, reducing open burning, improving soil structure, and lowering pest incidence.

The seeding machine is simply the next step in a process farmers may not name explicitly but recognize with each harvest. As Nguyen Van Du reflected, the soil has long been depleted, and it is time to give back what has been taken.