Design of a Self-Sustained Farming System (SFS) for Pakistan

Abstract

Growing population of the world demands rapid, efficient, and safe production of the food items. The revolution in robotics and automation also introduces the concept of robotic farming that has the benefits to grow and inspect the food items more effectively. The need of the time is to introduce robustness and automation in the agriculture industry of Pakistan. Therefore, a Self-Sustained Farming System (SFS) is designed that has the capability to flourish a small agricultural area without any intervention of the farmer. The SFS is also effective in such terrains where conventional farming is difficult. The design of the SFS makes it capable to perform multiple tasks, such as weeding, seed injection, and soil moisture measurement. Moreover, the SFS changes the daily watering pattern for different plants with respect to the weather conditions of the area. Furthermore, the cloud interface of the SFS provides the feature of continuous updated remote assessment of the SFS system parameters. The SFS has another advantage to work both in grid-connected and off-grid (solar powered) mode. A detailed cost analysis of real-time data of SFS is conducted with respect to the saving of water and energy resources. The scope of the SFS is not limited to small kitchen gardens, the SFS is scalable to big garden and vegetation farms.