Final-year student Pham Minh Cong and his coursemates from the Da Nang University of Science and Technology have won first prize in the central region qualifying round of the on-going ‘Start-up Student Ideas’ contest for creating an automatic feeding trough for pigs.

Cong beside his product at a recent start-up contest

Organised by the Viet Nam Students’ Association, the contest is open to Vietnamese students from universities and colleges at home or abroad.  The final awards ceremony of the contest will take place on 25 March.

Cong said that this product was initially inspired by his harsh experiences in raising pigs at home in Quang Nam Province’s Hiep Duc District, where his family’s income came from pig rearing.  They once had around 100 pigs and he always complained that it was hard to feed them all.

Cong said that, when he was a third-year student in the university’s Automation Engineering Faculty, he came up with the idea of creating a machine that could effectively handle the feeding.  At first, he only used items available in his house such as lampshades, aluminum wash-basins, and metal sheets to create an automatic feeding trough for pigs.  A control box was installed on the trough, allowing users to set the timing and volume of rice bran for pigs.  

Then, Cong and his friends jointly began a start-up business in a bid to further develop the product, with a focus on perfecting the design and reasonably adjusting its measures.

Interestingly, their product was listed in the top 60 entries in the Start-up Wheel 2016 contest which was held by the Viet Nam Business Start-up Support Centre.  Also last year, this product brought home a second prize at an agriculture start-up contest which was held by the Business Association of High Quality Vietnamese Products.  Furthermore, it was named in the top 30 technological projects at TechFest 2016 which was organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Cong affirmed that, unlike other feeding troughs for pigs on sale in the market, his group-developed product proves to be more efficient because it allows users to determine the amount of bran for pigs thanks to the timing and quantity parameters installed on the product.

Cong happily said that some pig-breeding facilities have allowed Cong’s group to install their products on a pilot basis. 

Currently, most of the big farming facilities are using feeding equipment imported from other countries.  Therefore, Cong’s group intends to advertise their product to small-sized farming facilities nationwide.  He confidently said that Vietnamese-made products are more suitable for domestic cattle raising establishments because they are easier and more convenient to repair and maintain.