NAME: EZE NNAMDI SHEDRACK

MATRIC NO: AGE/17/2921

AGE 417 ASSIGNMENT
SMART AGRICULTURE

The term smart agriculture refers to the usage of technologies like Internet of Things, sensors,
location systems, robots and artificial intelligence on your farm. The ultimate goal is increasing
the quality and quantity of the crops while optimizing the human labor used.

EXAMPLE TECHNOLOGIES USED IN SMART AGRICULTURE ARE:

• Precision irrigation and precise plant nutrition

• Climate management and control in greenhouses
• Sensors – for the soil, water, light, moisture, for temperature management
• Software platforms
• Location systems – GPS, satellite, etc
• Communication systems – based on mobile connection, LoraWan, etc
• Robots
• Analytics and optimization platforms
The connection between all these technologies is the Internet of Things – this is a mechanism for
connectivity between sensors and machines, resulting in a complex system that manages your farm
based on data received. Thanks to this system, farmers can monitor the processes on their farms
and take strategic decisions remotely – from their tablet, phone or other mobile device – without
being on the open fields, in their greenhouse, orchard, vineyard, etc.

WHAT ARE THE PROCESSES TAKING PLACE ON A FARM USING SMART

AGRICULTURE?

• Data-collection
The sensors installed at all critical places in the farm gather and transmit data about the
soil, air, etc
 • Diagnostics
The data collected is analyzed by the system and conclusions are made regarding the status
of the object or process monitored. Potential problems get identified.
• Decision-making
Based on the problems identified in the previous steps, the software platform and/or a
human managing the platform decides on actions that need to be taken.
• Actions
The actions identified in the previous step are performed. A new measurement on the soil,
air, moisture, etc is performed by the sensors and the whole cycle starts again.

HOW SMART AGRICULTURE RELATES TO INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE 4.0

The term Industrial Agriculture 4.0 refers to the application of technologies that includes precision
farming, the Internet of things (IoT) and the use of big data in the agriculture sector to drive a
greater business efficiency in the Agricultural sector and result in higher productivity.

The application of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 in agriculture includes three parts. The first part
is sensor-based technology for data collection of several parameters related to crops, soil, and
weather conditions. The second part is big data analysis resulting requirement of plants regarding
water content and fertilizers on appropriate timing. The third part consists of control systems of
various farm machinery inputted by database processed from a computerized geographical
information system (GIS). The system transformed farming infrastructures into connected tractors
and machines, connected farms, and new production equipment. This part will contribute to
productivity improvement, environmental protection, and quality assurance of agricultural
products. Thus, from my findings, Smart Agriculture and Industrial Agriculture 4.0 is the same.
 INDUSTRY 1.0
INDUSTRY 3.0

INDUSTRY 2.0 INDUSTRY 4.0

1784 1870 1969 Today

Mechanization, steam Mass production, Automation, Internet of things,
power, weaving loom electrical energy computer and networks, robotic
electronics applications,
artificial intelligence

HOW SMART AGRICULTURE CAN SOLVE CURRENT PROBLEMS IN NIGERIA

Increase agricultural productivity

To increase agricultural productivity the modern technology skills can play very essential role in
few ways such as transportation facilities, irrigation facilities, institutional credit, proper
marketing facilities, supply of quality inputs, consolidation of holdings, agricultural education,
land reforms, co-operative farming, reduction of population on land, provision of better manure
seeds etc. Villagers are linked with marketing which in turns achieve the farmer’s interest with
better farm technology and sufficient profit. Quality of input, control field measurements and
better irrigation facilities helps to increase productivity.

Improved product quality: Data-driven agriculture helps both grow more and better products.
Using soil and crop sensors, aerial drone monitoring and farm mapping, farmers better understand
detailed dependencies between the conditions and the quality of the crops. Using connected
systems, they can recreate the best conditions and increase the nutritional value of the products.
As a result, all of these factors can eventually lead to higher revenue.

Livestock monitoring IoT applications help farmers to collect data regarding the location, well-
being, and health of their cattle. This information helps them in identifying the condition of their
livestock. Such as, finding animals that are sick so, that they can separate from the herd,
preventing the spread of the disease to the entire cattle. The feasibility of ranchers to locate their
cattle with the help of IoT based sensors helps in bringing down labor costs by a substantial
amount.

Deteriorated quality of the soil

The extensive use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides has caused considerable
deterioration of the soil fertility. The quality of the soil has decreased, which leads to decreased
growth rates for all crops. This triggers the need for more and more artificial fertilizers,
pesticides and insecticides. By deploying sensors transmitting data for the condition of the soil
and air farmers can get accurate data for the state of the soil, air, etc – for different crops and
different locations.

These and many more are the problems smart agriculture can solve in Nigeria.

Referencess

Aninias, R. 2018. How (and why) entrepreneurs should cash in on the coconut craze, October 11,
2018. Retrived via https:// www.bworldonline.com/sparkup-trendsworld-coconut-congress/

Clercq, De. M., A. Vats and A. Bie. 2018. Agriculture 4.0-The Future of Farming Technology,
February 2018.

Duckett, T., S. Pearson, S. S. Blackmore, B. Grieve. 2018. Agricultural Robotics: The future of
robotic agriculture, UK-RAS (Robotic and Autonomous System), 2018, ISSN 2398-4414

Industry 4.0 Revolution Technique, from first to fourth industrial version. Retrieved from:
https://www.seekmomentum.com/blog/ manufacturing/the-evolution-of-industryfrom-1-4

Lasi, H., P. Fettke, T. Feld and M. Hoffmann. 2014. Industry 4.0. Business & Information
Systems Engineering. Journal of Service