Automated greenhouse system to save farming costs and food security

Thanks to greenhouses which have become the in thing with farmers hence giving them much yield at all times irrespective of seasons.

Many farmers have been following the conventional routine of tending to their crops in the green house at specific times they were advised by maybe extension officers.

However, a group of three university student developers are set to change how greenhouses work by automating them.

The automated irrigation system is controlled by a computerized control box that targets water sources for irrigation, control of moisture input and output, to the exact time when the crops need them, wasting not a single precious drop of water or fertilizer

Anthony Mburu 25, Charles Nyagaka 24, and Japheth Kipkirui 23, belonging to a group calling themselves Tech team are all fourth year students from Kenyatta University's(KU), Electrical and Electronics Engineering department ae the brains behind this.
It's a prototype of a project called Smart Shamba that won them position five among the 20 competing groups where their valid idea became the best project among their six KU teams in the recently concluded Galileo Competitions by Intel East Africa and driven by iHub that is raring to change how farming is done in Kenya and make some good cash.

"We came up with this idea during a brainstorming session to automate the greenhouse and control different parameters in it according to the crop's needs and time since different crops require different environments," says Anthony.

It comes with a control box with a memory card to store data with a screen interface powered by a battery with cables connected to the sensors in the greenhouse, which detects and records temperatures, controls light and humidity levels in the greenhouse together with water tank.
The data recorded in the memory card according to Japheth can be used by extension officers to recommend the necessary crops that does well in the area and also the favorable conditions in the green house hence food security.

The students are looking forward to modify the system to detect soil PH levels, water level in the tank, intruders like rodents or even person in the greenhouse and record to the screen and help the farmer know the necessary action.

When the temperatures are high, there is a fan on the greenhouse roof which rotates to control the temperatures and the shutters on the roof also opens to allow in necessary temperatures.

According to Charles, the system helps also to save water since it is able to detect when water is needed and communicates with the control box to notify the farmer to allow inflow of water.

This is unlike conventionally when farmers could just water the crops maybe thrice or twice per day according to what they were advised even if the plants do not need water.

"The system is able to detect when the plants need water and causes the valve at the water tank to automatically open and allow in water," says Japheth.

"Kenya being a farming country, the system comes at the right time to increase food production hence food security that's why we came up with such a flexible system that can be applied anywhere to help farmers grow crops at all times to avoid hunger," says Charles.

The system can also run on solar in rural places where there is no solar.

Antony adds that the greenhouse automation system, helps a farmer to monitor his farm regardless of the distance he is since the data on the control box interface will be communicated on his/her phone through text, tweets, calls in case he doesn't respond, email updates when there is network connectivity.

The small control box comparable to a lunch box can control a vast greenhouse which comes fully customized with a farmer's specifications hence relieving him a lot of work but only communication.

Anthony is hoping that farming face in Kenya is going to be changed since they have user-friendly and dynamic system.

The farmer has to select which kind of crop he/she wants to grow so that the team customizes for them the system since various crops needs different environment and that the system is only applicable to one kind of crop in the greenhouse.