Farming is indeed India’s one of the most stressful occupations. A good crop not only takes a lot of time but is also majorly dependent on water, power supply and manpower. Scarcity of these resources often lead to failed crops, which leaves the farmer with no choice but to take loan to run his household.
In order to help farmers sustain themselves against the pervasive shortage of resources, a three-year-old Bengaluru-based startup, Avanijal, was started by Channabasappa Kolar and Vijayeendra HS.
Avanijal has developed an ingenious automated irrigation system called Nikash which uses Internet of Things technology to control irrigation in the fields via an application.
All that Nikash needs is the basic installation of a low-cost system to control the valve and motors in the field. The system has a controller which is connected to an app, wireless sensor nodes that are embedded into the soil and repeaters that establish communication between the controller and the nodes.
As per the makers of Nikash, the farmer can configure their irrigation schedule on the app. They can then automate processes which they initially had to do themselves or with the help of external labour.
With the help of Nikash, farmers can adopt precision irrigation based on time, the volume of water available and even soil moisture. The system has also been designed to consider voltage fluctuations, so the time or volume of water is automatically adjusted during the event of power outages.Vijayeendra HS to The Economic Times
Considering the irregularity of electricity in India, Vijayeendra says the system has been designed in a manner such that it can handle voltage fluctuations with ease. As a result it ensures the volume of water is automatically adjusted during the event of power outages.
This implies when the electricity is available, the controller which is connected to the wireless sensor nodes in the ground will automatically turn on the motor as per the farmers schedule. When the first part of the land gets stipulated with sufficient amount of water it is only then when it goes to the next part of the land. All this is programmed on the app for the convenience of the farmers
With inputs from Better India, The Economic Times and Avanijal.
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