Contextual use of a Smart Farm Irrigation System using Internet of Things (IoT)

Abstract

A crucial component of agricultural output is water, and its production can be reduced by shortage, which negatively affects food security. In an effort to address this developing issue, irrigation was employed as form of water management. Various irrigation methods were employed but there were various limitation to those methods such as soil and water erosion due to inability of soil moisture determination. This work focusses on the creation of an irrigation system based on the Internet of Things. The implementation was done using Arduino microcontroller programmed in C programming Language. The application’s data on soil moisture level, valve condition, and remote management of the smart irrigation system were all displayed using an Arduino microcontroller. In Nigeria, the smart irrigation system was tested on three different soil types: clay, loam, and sandy. Data including the moisture reading and irrigation time were acquired after inserting the moisture sensor probe into the soil sample. The average time taken to irrigate clay, loamy and sandy soil at 2kg, 5kg, 8kg and 10kg were 10.93s, 15s, 19.75s, 23.25s; 9.5s, 12.4s, 17s, 21.5s; 8.25s, 11.3s, 14.7s and 20.2s, respectively. This system helps in reducing soil erosion, as it monitors and reads soils moisture in real-time.