Smartsoilph: Soil Nutrient Monitoring For Middle-Class Farmers In Calabarzon
Patricia Kaye Alay | Xavier Maurice Lim | Karl John Punzalan | Iyanla Angeli Sosa | Christian Raymond Zalameda
Discipline: software engineering
Abstract:
SmartSoilPH is a precision agriculture technology project designed to
improve soil health and fertilizer usage for middle-class farmers in the
CALABARZON region of the Philippines. This integrates an Internet of
Things (IoT) device with a mobile application, providing a user-friendly
solution to enhance agricultural practices by monitoring soil nutrients. The
IoT device, equipped with sensors for Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P),
Potassium (K), pH level, Electrical Conductivity (EC), moisture, and
temperature, offers real-time soil data. This information, accessible via the
mobile app in both English and Tagalog, aids farmers in making informed
decisions regarding their fertilizer usage and doing crop management.
Initial tests for pure buffers revealed that the sensor’s pH level average
accuracy is 93.45%, while EC level accuracy hovered around 70%. Despite
facing challenges with sensor accuracies and the inability to test for fresh
soil samples to measure NPK nutrients, the project's iterative testing and
error correction enhancements have led to substantial improvements, with
an average NPK measurement accuracy of 76.9%, 35.09%, and 63.9%
respectively. On the other hand, the system’s feature of fertilizer
recommendations based on the provided NPK nutrients were 100%
accurate. Additionally, the mobile app’s user-friendly interface and manual
guidelines ensure that farmers can effectively utilize the system to optimize
crop productivity. As SmartSoilPH progresses, future recommendations
include hardware upgrades, continuous software error corrections, and an
expanded focus on the system's fertilizer recommendation feature. In
conclusion, SmartSoilPH is a potential tool of integrating technology with
traditional farming practices, offering a promising tool for sustainable
agriculture and the empowerment of middle-class farmers in the
Philippines.
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