Design of Robotic System for Rice Farmers Against Birds' Invasion in Nigeria Using Arduino Nano Technology

Abstract

Rice is one of the most important staple foods for most Nigerians, Africans and indeed for about 50% of the world. An estimated 70% of Nigerian populace feed essentially on rice, with about 30% of their cereal-based diets also derived from rice. The constraints faced by the rice farmers in Nigeria are: inaccessible road, high cost of transportation, inadequate credit, birds' invasion, inadequate extension support and inaccessibility to cheap farm inputs. Prominent among these is that of birds' invasion especially the quela bird. This has been one of the major constraints in Africa especially Nigeria, leading to 48–100% yield reduction and sometimes complete crop failure, thereby threatening food security. To tackle this challenge, women and children are sent to the fields to guard against birds. But this also has serious consequences because it adds to the women’s workload and keeps children away from school. Some farmers through the help of state and federal government use air plane to spray chemicals. However, this is costly and may not available at all time. Some farmers have adopted the use of other methods like cassette tape, the scarecrows method, the castanets method, and the use of nets. With all these methods, yet farmers complain of birds’ invasion. This is attributed to the fact that all these methods have not been able to mimic human being in totality. So, very rapidly, the birds adapt to the method and it becomes less efficient. This work proposes the use of use Arduino Nano Technology for the design of robotic system for rice farmers against birds' invasion in Nigeria. Demonstration was carried out in Igbemo Ekikti Farm, Ekiti State, Nigeria. The performance evaluation was based on production and Cost/Benefit Analysis. The results show a better performance over the use of human and cassette tape. Keywords: Birds’ invasion, Robotic System, Cost, Profit, Arduino Nano Journal Reference Format: Akingbesote, A.O. (2023): Design Of Robotic System For Rice Farmers Against Birds' Invasion In Nigeria Using Arduino Nano Technology. Journal of Behavioural Informatics, Digital Humanities and Development Research. Vol. 9. No. 2, Pp 55-68 Available online at https://www.isteams.net/behavioralinformaticsjournal. dx.doi.org/10.22624/AIMS/BHI/V9N2P5