JOIN USCrop management gets smarter
If the ‘Crop Management System’ designed and implemented by Shivaprakash of Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE) goes live, farmers can get all necessary details on their mobile phones.
Explaining the system, Shivaprakash said that an interface is provided on the mobile phone through which a farmer can enter details such as his name, address, the date of sowing and the type of soil. These details will be transferred to a server in the Nokia Research Lab located at SJCE.
Upon getting these details, the farmer is later informed as to when he has to apply pesticides and fertilisers. Describing the functioning, Shivaprakash said, “Supposing a farmer has to apply pesticides and fertilisers on the 10th day after sowing, then an SMS is sent in Kannada, informing him about the quantity he has to spray.”
Later, on the day of harvesting, price of the crop at the nearest APMC yard is downloaded from www.krishimaratavahini.com. “These prices are sent to the farmer through an SMS. This ensures avoiding the use of middle-men,”he observes. A Kannada language editor ‘Kannedi’ was specifically designed for the Crop Management System using Open Source software for use by the local population.
Further, he wants to develop Crop Management System by involving experts to give advise on the way the crops have to be handled. Shivaprakash said, “A photograph of the crop can be taken and sent to the management system. This will be forwarded to experts who will provide guidance on what steps have to be taken by the farmer to maintain the crop or increase its yield.” Shivaprakash started work on the project under Nokia-VTU research collaboration nearly one year ago as part of his M Tech studies under the guidance of Dr T N Nagabhushan, Head of the Department, Information Science Department, SJCE. This will be displayed at Dasara Exhibition Grounds from October 12 to 20.