Project – The development of an analytical system for recommending soil to crop

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

This project report is written base on the research carried on the existing soil with an intension of exposing their weaknesses, strength and problems and to know the kind of crop that can grow on it without deficiencies. The intension was to develop a soil-crop Recommendation system to solve these problems identified after realizing that the soil analysis and data management in terms of storage and accessibility was poorly done. This therefore prompted the researcher to carry out an investigation on how soil Recommendation is carried out at the Department of soil science, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi so that a soil-crop Recommendation system would be developed to handle the stated problem above.

Over the past twenty years, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has grown to achieve unanticipated levels of sophistication. The use of ICT has taken a different direction, owing to the demands and needs in various sectors of government and among the public Nemati (2018). The utilization of ICT has ranged from astronomy, to agriculture medicine/health, to telecommunications, as well as to many other spheres. Agricultural information systems have been extensively implemented both in developed and less in developing countries.

With the past reviews and analysis of some systems that have been developed and implemented overtime in the agricultural sector, I have decided to come up with an improved and modern system that is known as the Soil-Crop recommendation System

A soil-crop recommendation system is a computer program or set of programs used to analyze results of soil tests and conditions in order to accurately pinpoint out or suggest the most ideal crops to grow in those conditions whilst estimating the yields one can expect from growing either of those crops. Therefore Soil analysis is an aid to managing soil nutrients efficiently to maintain soil fertility for those nutrients like phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) that are retained in soil in plant available forms. For many years soil analysis has been used as an aid to assessing soil fertility and crop nutrient management and this has been established in the Soil Index system widely used in the world. Mylavarapu and Lee (2014). Some alternative approaches based on the ratio of certain captions in soil (Base Caption Saturation Ratios) and the use of soil audits are being promoted as better approaches to plant nutrient management. Today farmers are confronted with squeezing more yields from increasingly expensive and scarce resources. They are also challenged to do that while maintaining good stewardship of the land and water resources that provide their living. The key to these challenges is to balance the soil fertility and allocate soil amendments to maximize yields. Soil sampling and analysis is the most cost-effective tool to accomplish this goal. Unbalanced fertility has a number of potentially undesirable affects. Low levels of one or more nutrients limit the potential yield; they become the limiting factor regardless of other nutrient levels in the soil. Extremely high levels of nutrients impact the environment and put to waste those fertility resources. Soil fertility analysis shows the amount of each nutrient needed to obtain desired yield goals. Ultimately, proper fertilizer application results in the best yields, saves time and money and is environmentally correct. Achieving and maintaining appropriate levels of soil fertility is of paramount importance if agricultural land is to remain capable of sustaining crop production at an acceptable level. Among the aids to managing soil fertility, El-gizawy (2015) soil sampling and analysis is the first of three equally important steps in managing the nutrients required by plants. The second is the interpretation of the analytical data leading to the third step, recommendations for nutrient additions, as fertilizers or manures, to optimize crop yields while minimizing any adverse environmental impact from their application. Currently there are well tried and tested recommendations for nutrient additions to soil.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Presently, soil analysis and interpretation of soil test results is paper based. This in one way or the other has contributed to poor interpretation of soil test results which has resulted into poor recommendation of crops, thus leading to poor crop yields, micro-nutrient deficiencies in soil. The system to be designed will enable researchers and farmers with a convenient tool to analyze and interpret soil test data, selecting crops as well as to optimize the yield of a particular crop on a soil which has the potential to increase crop yields and results in greater profits for the farmer.

1.3 Aim and Objectives

The aim of this research is to develop a computer based soil-crop recommendation system that analyses results of soil tests and underlying conditions in order to recommend ideal crops to be grown there and possible  yields. The specific objectives are to

1. To examine the existing Soil recommendation system;
2. To design a new prototype for the Soil-Crop recommendation system that will analyze soil test results and not only give relevant recommendations on crops.
3. To implement the prototype of the Soil-Crop recommendation system; and
4. To test the prototype to determine whether the Intended functionality of the system as required by the users is achieved.
   • Scope of the study

In the development, study will involve the analysis, design, implementation and testing of the Soil-Crop recommendation system with concern to activities carried out at the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, School Farm. It will focus on the procedures undertaken in testing soils for agricultural purposes, and how analysis is made on the soils before decisions are made on what crops to grow there. It will also focus on how yields for particular crops are calculated for an area of land and the market values for the crops.

• Significance of the study

The significance of the study was to make a contribution to literature in terms of evaluating the importance of computer-based systems to the agriculture and soil in Benue state, how we can integrate them to the field activities and their impact to service delivery: both in terms of efficiency and cost. It would also be beneficial to other researchers and higher institutions that are in the process of streamlining the ragged agricultural practices through computerized systems. Recent developments in computing and technology have made it easy and cost effective to apply technology to all sectors of life, agriculture not excluding. There is a need to develop tools that will aid in improving agricultural productivity by solving some of the problems limiting the full potential of agriculture. The Soil-Crop recommendation system project will enable researchers, farmers and scientists to apply analyze soils with the view of enabling them make decisions on the ideal crops to grow there. This will enable farmers to make decisions that will help increase their yields when they apply the right fertilizers and grow the right crops in their soils thus providing a solution to the majority of the farmers who suffer from chronically low yields.The researcher also hopes that the system will be an addition to previous technologies that have been developed in soil recommendation and that it will supplement the already existing structures in the sector of agriculture and more specifically in crop production. The research project further enables the assimilation and deployment of class material to real life experience.

1.6 Definitions of terms

1. Soil Recommendation: the act of saying a particular soil is good for a crop.
2. Soil analysis: a careful study of soil to learn about its parts, what they do, and how they are related to each other.

• Assimilation: the process of receiving new facts or of responding to new situations in conformity with what is already available to consciousness.

1. Precision agriculture: Type of agriculture that is done in large scale and mechanisms are required.

Project – The development of an analytical system for recommending soil to crop