Tran Van Nghia: Farmer 4.0 and hero in the flood

Graduated from the Software Engineering major at the Military Technical Academy in 2014, Mr. Tran Van Nghia returned to his hometown Binh Phuoc and worked at the Dak Nhau Commune People's Committee. After 2 years of working, his family had an incident so he had to quit his government job. In 2016, he got married and packed his bags to Gia Lai to work as a porter, transporting agricultural products... in sweet potato gardens.

Mr. Tran Van Nghia (born in 1990, group 10, Chu Se commune, Gia Lai province) with the DJI T50 drone. **Photo: Dong Lai**

While working and learning farming techniques, he began to save up capital to buy a tractor and an 8-ton Hino truck to transport sweet potatoes to Lam Dong province. In 2021, he started growing sweet potatoes systematically, from seed selection to care.

Mr. Nghia said: Plants at each growth stage need different amounts of water and fertilizer and must be divided according to cycles and carefully calculated. Understanding what plants need and when will help you take the initiative in the season and no longer depend entirely on the weather.

Thanks to his mastery of the technique, each year he cultivates about 40-50 hectares of sweet potatoes. In the current crop season alone, he cultivates 20 hectares and has deposited money to rent an additional 30 hectares of land for the year-end crop. With an investment cost of 200-250 million VND/ha, the estimated profit is 100-150 million VND/ha, Mr. Nghia's total annual income is more than 3 billion VND.

Not stopping at growing and selling raw products, he is planning to make crispy, soft-dried sweet potato products or cooperate with processing facilities to increase the value of the product to the level of regional specialties.

“Farming now cannot stop at harvesting and selling fresh tubers, but also think about the brand. I want when mentioning Gia Lai, people immediately remember sweet potatoes that are sweet, clean and full of the highlands,” Mr. Nghia hopes.

After sweet potatoes, in mid-2024, Mr. Nghia will continue to plant 6.6 hectares of Thien Truong coffee following the Brazilian model: high beds, straight rows, 3-3.2m apart, planting density twice as high as usual 12,000 trees/ha combined with an automatic irrigation system. With a cost of about 50 million VND/ha, the model helps reduce 30% of production costs, limit pests and diseases, increase productivity, and facilitate mechanization from weeding to harvesting.

“This model not only increases productivity but also aims at sustainable production, adapting to climate change and rural labor shortages. Many local farmers have come to visit and learn from the model,” said Mr. Nghia.

Mr. Nghia is operating a drone to spray fertilizer for people. **Photo: Dong Lai**

In mid-May 2025, he invested in a DJI T50 drone (agricultural flying device) worth 340 million VND. More than a month later, he bought a second machine. Not only serving his family, he also provides spraying and fertilizing services for hire in localities such as Duc Co, Ia Phin...

“Each day, the machine can spray 15-20 hectares, requiring only 2 operators. Manual work requires at least 20-30 workers. With the service price ranging from 6-9 million VND/10 hectares, people save more than 50% of the cost. Not to mention, the aircraft operates more accurately and evenly,” Mr. Nghia analyzed.

Drone devices help people save about 50% of costs when spraying pesticides, fertilizing... **Photo: Dong Lai**

Having just experienced the drone fertilization service for 1 hectare of sweet potatoes of his family, Mr. Tran Van Thiem (village 2, Ia Mual commune) said: "Previously, manually fertilizing 1 hectare took half a day, costing about 2 million VND. Now using a drone, it only takes 30 minutes and costs only 1 million VND, especially without having to find workers."

Drone operator Tran Hoang Hieu is checking the equipment before spraying fertilizer. **Photo: Dong Lai**

Not only increasing production efficiency, Mr. Nghia's model also creates jobs for 4 technical workers, each with a stable income of 500,000 VND/day. Mr. Tran Hoang Hieu (Hung Tien village, Ia Phin commune) said: "Before, I was a farmer, earning about 6 million VND/month. Now, learning to fly a drone takes only 3 days to master, each month I earn more than 15 million VND".

Clip: Mr. Tran Van Nghia controls the DJI T50 drone to fertilize a sweet potato field. Made by: Dong Lai

Thanks to his tireless efforts and progressive spirit, Mr. Nghia now owns nearly 7 hectares of cultivated land located right in the center of Ia Phi commune. Taking advantage of the available land fund and accumulated experience, he will soon plant a few more hectares of tissue-cultured ginger, with an investment of about 130 million VND/ha. "Ginger is a plant with stable output, and the care technique is not too difficult if we proactively prevent diseases from the beginning. I am experimenting to develop in a systematic and long-term direction," Mr. Nghia shared.

Not only a “tech farmer”, Mr. Tran Van Nghia also made many people admire him when he became a hero in the flood. At noon on July 3, in a field near Ben Mong bridge (Ia Tul commune), he bravely piloted a DJI T50 drone through the rushing water to rescue two trapped children. “At that time, I just thought that if I didn’t save them immediately, the flood would sweep them away. Thanks to the drone, I was able to pull them safely to shore,” Mr. Nghia recounted.

In recognition of his brave and timely actions, on July 5, Mr. Duong Mah Tiep - Vice Chairman of Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee, on behalf of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, awarded a certificate of merit to Mr. Tran Van Nghia for his outstanding achievements in rescue work.

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/tran-van-nghia-nong-dan-40-va-nguoi-hung-giua-dong-lu-post561807.html