Development of a low-cost soil sample testing and monitoring device for sustainable farming

Abstract

The sustainability of agriculture is crucial for addressing the challenges of a growing global population and changing environmental conditions. Central to this sustainability was the health and quality of soil, which can be assessed through soil analysis. However, traditional soil testing methods are often expensive, time-consuming, and inaccessible for many small-scale farmers, particularly in resource-constrained regions. This project report presents the development of a "Low-cost Soil Sample Testing and Monitoring Device for Sustainable Farming". The development of this device was aimed at Standardizing soil analysis by making it affordable, portable, and user-friendly. It would empower farmers with the knowledge and tools necessary to make informed decisions about soil management and crop recommendation, thereby advancing sustainable farming practices and ensuring food security for future generations. The development of low-cost testing and monitoring device for sustainable farming was developed using sensors to capture soil parameters, used a machine learning algorithm to analyse the parameter values and provided recommendations on crops to grow, irrigation and fertilizer application, displayed the results on the device, and sent them to the cloud server for storage in a PostgreSQL database for easy access. This device is to implement the laboratory soil analysis procedures and the web portal provides a display of real-time soil analysis results and stores the analysed results in a cloud database that helps to save time and the tedious, long laboratory processes.