Читать книгу Machine Learning Approaches for Convergence of IoT and Blockchain - Группа авторов - Страница 24

As we already know, this is the industry that provides employment and income to a very large section of India’s population particularly. Not just in India but almost all countries across the globe practice some form of agriculture or the other to meet the needs of their countrymen and often also from the trading perspective be it within the country’s boundaries or beyond it. In earlier times, this industry was mainly dependent upon natural factors and human labor, whereas now technologies like IoT and blockchain have found implementation in this sector in not just one but many beneficial ways. There are a number of difficulties that this industry has to tackle with. Some of them can be seen as, once the farm produce is obtained only about 50% of the total quantity produced is actually delivered to the end users the rest of it undergoes wastage due to multiple reasons. Another one being the natural degradation of the land resources, with continuous exploitation of the land and soil in order to yield crops for commercial purposes, the maximum capacity and quality of the produce is deteriorating with the passage of time. There are occasions where there has been loss of crop due to either unexpected weather patterns or pest outbreak or even instances of wild animals that happen to enter the field, ruining large portions of the produce. At times, variables such as fluctuation in demand drop in prices or excessive presence of middlemen that may hamper the growth of this industry. Let us know explore what solutions are offered by the technologies of IoT and blockchain and how they are beneficial for this industry [9]. Before the farmers sow the seeds of any crop, they must be aware about the demand that the crop has. It is possible to have an estimate of the same by analysing the trends in the sale of the crop over the previous years. This ensures that demand and supply can be kept proportional hence avoiding wastage and loss.

Crops are best sold fresh therefore incorporation of IoT with the logistics responsible for delivering the product to the market would allow the producer as well as the consumer to be sure of the food being fresh and also to keep a check that no wastage occurs during the transportation of the same. IoT can also serve to improve the quality of the crop. Sensors such as air temperature and humidity sensors, soil pH sensors, sensors to check the water content of the soil, and sensors to evaluate the nutrient content of the soil. All these when connected to each other and onto a server will deliver wholesome information and allow the farmer to cater to the needs of the crop in a better manner. Since every crop has varying requirements of all these factors the farmer can set the parameter in keeping with those that best suit the crop thus allowing him to achieve the optimum conditions for plant growth. In case there is any deviation that is either lack or excess of any factor the farmer will get to know though his smart mobile connected onto the server where signals from all the sensors are stored, this mechanism will ensure better care to the to the target crop and thus provide better quantity and quality.

A suggested application in this field is to use surveillance cameras along with motion sensors. These motion sensors would be equipped to sense the movement of a body that would resemble that of pests which are dangerous to the crop. If any such motion is detected, the farmer will immediately be alerted through this mobile device and he can also access the cameras output at the time and therefore will be able to keep the produce safe [10]. The problems that faced while trying to implement these technologies in the agricultural industry are the high investment required for installation of required equipment and the technologies ought to bring about sea change in the functioning of this industry and due to lack of any technical knowledge the farmers will face difficulty adapting to this new system. However, once these are successfully integrated these techniques they will serve to regain the vibrancy and attain higher crop yields and better quality final products overall application in the field of agriculture can be seen in Figure 1.5.

Figure 1.5 IoT and Blockchain in agriculture industry.