CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1           BACKGROUND OF STUDY

The continuous increase in food demand requires a rapid improvement in food production technologies. Food insecurity is a major challenge in developing countries. In a country like Nigeria where the economy is mainly not agriculture based, use of technology to improve on yields is paramount.

Agriculture in Nigeria is mainly rain fed. Global warming has led to climate changing thus rendering the rain fed agricultural systems unreliable. This has resulted on more land being put under irrigation to meet the food demand for the growing population.Approximately 125,000 hectares of land in Nigeria is under irrigation out of the estimated potential of 1.3 million hectares. Only 30% of the 1.3 million hectares potential irrigation land has available water resources while the other 70% require water harnessing for irrigation to be realized.

Irrigation is the process of artificial application of water to land to aid crops growth. It is mainly used during dry seasons or in dry areas where rainfall is scarce.

1.2                 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Excessive and less introduction of water to plants cause some plants to wither off and not yield properly, this is a big problem faced by many farmers and horticulturist.

Since irrigation make an efficient use of water in the practice of agriculture, the introduction of Arduino based garden/plants sprinkler in some semi-arid areas was meant to overcome the water supply limitation and to increase crop productivity so that the farmers could be able to meet their demand and possibly a reasonable farm yield to improve the agriculture sector.

This project aims at automating irrigation systems using anArduino Uno to improve on water management. This will increase yields, improve crop quality, and most importantly conserve water thus saving money.

1.3                 AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

The aim of this project is to design and implement an Arduino based garden based sprinkler.

The objective is to automate a water pump to introduce water to the soil when the sensor monitoring the soil detects a low level of moisture in the soil.

1.4       PROJECT JUSTIFICATION

The increasing world population has led to exponential increase in food demand. This event has necessitated the need for more land to be cultivated. Due to change of weather patterns brought about by global warming, irrigation remains as the only reliable method of crops production. With more and more land now being under irrigation there is a need for optimal use of water. Over the last few years knowledge in electronics and computation has been used to solve present day challenges. In the forefront of the electronics revolution has been the microcontroller. The Arduino Uno has been used together with various sensors to measure and control physical quantities like temperature, humidity, heat and light. By controlling this physical quantities using the microcontroller; automatic systems have been achieved. Irrigation systems in crop production can and has also been automated. This solves the challenge brought about by the unreliability of climate changes thus need for water optimization. Automation of the irrigation systems is one of the most convenient, efficient and effective method of water optimization. The systems helps in saving water and thus more land can be brought under irrigation. Crops grown under controlled conditions tend to be healthier and thus give more yields. Controlled watering system results in reduction of fertilizer use and thus fertilizer cost will go down.