Farmer and inventor of coffee machine recognized by PM

Dang Van Bay, a farmer in Lam Dong province who quit school in the fifth grade, has invented a machine which can undertake heavy farming tasks. 

Bay has received a certificate of merit from the Prime Minister as one of 63 Vietnamese excellent farmers in 2016.

Reporters met Bay when he returned from a trip to Tan Phat community to deliver a farm produce dryer to a household there. 

NK700, invented by Bay, is the first farm produce drying machine using biomass thermal technology in Vietnam. It dries farm produce in the most effective way with less fuel consumed, while protecting the environment.

The system has a heat providing unit, a tank and silo filter unit. The fuel for the heat providing unit is waste of different kinds from agricultural production which is plentiful in rural areas, such as rice hulls or coffee pulp. 

When injecting fuel into the furnace, gas is generated to provide heat to the machine. The water vapor and contaminants in the drying process are filtered, without harmful gases discharged into the environment.

Di Linh district is the ‘coffee metropolis’ in the south of the Central Highlands. Drying coffee is the hardest work for farmers in coffee harvesting season. It is necessary to  protect it from rainwater, or coffee beans will decay. 

Bay vowed to create a dryer to help ease the work. After four years, he completed the first dryer in 2014. However, it took Bay months more to upgrade it for stable operation.

NK700, invented by Bay, is the first farm produce drying machine using biomass thermal technology in Vietnam. It dries farm produce in the most effective way with less fuel consumed, while protecting the environment.

Bay’s NK700 machine dries 700 kilos of coffee beans within 14-16 hours. It needs 1,500-2,000 kilos of fuel.

The machine has been upgraded to have higher capacity. NK1000, the next-generation machine, now can dry 1 ton of coffee beans.

Bay said 50 drying machines have been sold, priced at VND90-115 million each. Not only the farmers in Lam Dong province, but the farmers from neighboring localities of Dak Nong, Gia Lai and Binh Phuoc have also ordered the machines.

The dryer is not the only agricultural machine invented by Bay, who did not finish the fifth grade. 

He also invented other machines useful for coffee cultivation. These include a husking machine which shells 4-6 tons of fresh coffee beans an hour, and a machine that classifies ripe and unripe coffee beans.