Varsity students create app that helps to run a greenhouse more efficiently

Tomatoes at one of the green houses at Kenya seed company stand at Nakuru ASK Show. [PHOTO:KIPSANG JOSEPH/Standard]

Smart technology makes farming fun, cool and easy.

Imagine a mobile phone application that detects ripe produce and notifies you, the farmer, and tries to find a convenient market for the produce?

A new farming innovation by three students from Dedan Kimathi University of Technology promises and delivers just that.

“The Nelion Farm is a system that monitors a greenhouse by accurately regulating the conditions best fit for the particular crop. It consists of a set of sensors and modules which collect data and trigger the system to control the farm based on it,” says Kimson Muriungi, one of the brains behind the app.

The other innovators of this app that was showcased during the recent JKUAT Tech Expo are Denzel Wamburu and Cryrus Kiiru of Dedan Kimathi University. The three are mechatronics engineering students.

Unlike other farming apps, this one uses the Internet which provides farmers wider access to practical information they might need at any given time.

“For instance, if the farm has weeds, the farmer will be notified. The app will go ahead and suggest to the farmer herbicides that can be used to deal with the weeds,” the young innovator elaborates.

User friendly

Muriungi says farmers can control the greenhouse with the smart-phone through a user friendly app which is easy to understand and operate. More so, farmers can log into their accounts and control the greenhouse from there or through SMS.

The farmer can choose to control the farm automatically, where the farm regulates itself according to the optimum conditions of the crops being grown.

Notifications will be sent to the farmer through the app or SMS. On the other hand, it can be controlled manually where, for example, the farmer can set the temperature to 24 degrees or the soil moisture to a particular value.

The system regulates humidity, temperature, soil moisture, air flow, light and pH.

Additionally, farmers are able to get smart recommendations on their farm through analysis of the data provided. This will boost the quality of produce as the conditions of the farm will be optimised.

One positive aspect about the app is that it factors in that farmers are extremely busy people and do not want complicated lives.

“The farmer can control the greenhouse easily with his or her smart-phone, through a user friendly app, which is easy to understand and operate. The farmer can log into his account in our website and control it from there or through SMS,” Muriungi says.

So what inspired this fascinating technology?

“I believe that farming in Kenya can reach its peak by embracing modern technology, where information and data analysis is readily available and accessible by anyone from anywhere. Local farmers rely too much on nature   which is not as effective,” says the tech-savvy innovator.

The innovators came up with the idea in October last year.

The journey, Muriungi says, has been  littered with useful lessons. To perfect the idea, he worked with a team of friends who helped him to fine tune the innovation.

“There was a lot of intricate work involved. From developing our idea from scratch to seeing the device working. From putting up a great team and doing the work as well as rolling out test drives and overcoming the obstacles along the way has been incredible.”

The innovator says they plan to market the app in a major   mid this year. They are currently incubated at Dehub in Dedan Kimathi University of Technology.

The idea has already been tested and found viable through pilot project conducted in the school farm, and has been installed in two of the school’s greenhouses which are currently being monitored.

Yet the app is not short of magic.

“The device also gives live stream of what is going on in the farm. Once a camera is attached, farmers can be view what is going on in their farms remotely. Also, the farm has motion sensors which warn the farmer in case of intruders or any movements in his farm.”

Organised farming

Every good technology has a downside. In this case, the system requires a highly organised greenhouse to function effectively.

“We highly recommend the farmers to organise their greenhouses into sections during planting so as to get accurate collection of data and automation,”

“We are testing more modules to be included into the device that will be able to collect more data. This technology will revolutionise the way farming is done and there will be less emphasis on assumptions as data will be more readily available," says Muriungi.

Although it has been received well, there are still several hurdles facing it. The cost of production is high since apart from the software, all the hardware components are imported.