ABSTRACT
Agriculture is one of the foundations of the Nigerian economy and Cocoa is on the list of those contributing greatly to the overall GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the country’s economy. As a result of this, with increasing attention to food reliability and security across the globe, there is a need to create awareness of the importance of the use of advanced machinery in the activities of this sector. Research on agricultural robotics is scarce in the country, therefore, forcing farmers to still use some primitive farming methods and tools that have been in existence for hundreds of years and this has stopped us from attaining our full potential.
Author: Rosabeth Twarmi Balla
Supervising Lecturer: Sambo Aliyu Umar
Keywords: Mechatronics, Agriculture, Cocoa, Farming, Machinery
Click the Link Below For Full Paper, Questions and make your COMMENTS
APPLICATIONS OF MECHATRONICS IN AGRICULTURE -A CASE STUDY OF COCOA NURSERY FARMING
Nice one, keep it up
Great piece dear
Well done working sweetie more grace/wisdom, your doing well
We need young Talents aided by Technology to drive our fledgling Agro Production and Processing.
Sonia Bala with her Talent need to be Supported
Very impressive
All the best, dear
Weldon Sandra keep it up sky is the limit.
You are the very best , and knowing the the sky is just the stepping stone for you.
This is very thoughtful, weldone ma’am
Impressed is an understatement. Ride on my not so little genius.
Great one beloved. Shine on
As someone that works in a foremost agricultural research institute, I understand that this is no mean feat.
Beautiful piece dear
Very commendable….
This is great!
This is beautifully written. Great job!
Honestly…. This is very timely and important especially considering the state of our country’s economy. I really pray that this work go a long way. Nice one dear 💪
Job well done. Good luck to you.
Well done dear.
Great job dear and good luck.
Good job, well done
Well done dear
Great dear. All the best.
Impressive work
Bravo. Great job. Timely and apt
Great job, well done
Highly Educative … Excellent performance dear
Thank you…
Quite commendable dear, Great job.
Good one.
Very insightful; will recommend it for forging a sustainable road map for cocoa production in Nigeria
ALL THE BEST MY SISTER. THE SKY IS YOUR STARTING POINT. GOOD WORK, PLEASE KEEP IT UP
Very good write up.
All the very best dear
Obviously a step in the right direction. Primitive farming methods have stagnated agricultural development in Nigeria, thereby contributing to food insecurity and over dependence on imported food and agro-based raw materials for industries. Development of skills in the design of farming machines that combines robotics and computer engineering technology can be the much needed game changer of the current narrative.
This is very impressive! Keep up the good work dear.
This is very impressive …….cocoa was actually one of our major source of revenue income before the shift to crude oil ……I’m impressed by the insights shared by you ……well done
Agric-tech seems to be taking over our world,
population of the world keeps increasing as this population must be fed.
From my perspectives I believe your proposal is timely.
Thank you so much… Cocoa was indeed one of the major contributor to the nations economy before the shift to crude oil…. But with increased risks faced with food security, there is need to go back on the path of agriculture
Nice one…Well done 👍
This is digital agriculture, the best and cost effective way. It is the future.
Well done and keep it up
Great piece!
Very remarkable ❤️
The Idea is novel. It addresses one of the key challenges in agricultural sector. The author needs some support to undergo a pilot test/proof of concept. Keep the good work my student.
Thank you so much for your support through this journey in the world of research sir..
Great work Sister. Good luck
very apt, educating and productive as well. Practical application of the Idea should come to book we hope. keep it up dear!
Voting for Sara Bala,she is most intelligent and dedicated,she is absolutely amazing in her engineering projects !
Voting for Sara Bala,she is most intelligent and dedicated,she is absolutely brilliant in her engineering projects !
Nice research. If well implemented, will surely solve alots of problems in the agricultural sector.
Indeed Mechatronics is here to stay.
All the best lovely sister….
Good job. Nice insight
ROSSA I day for u. All d best dear
Wow! This’s so wonderful and thoughtful you my dear. Continue improvement in Agricultural mechanisation can nor be over emphasis.
Weldone Rosabeth Balla, may God’s favour be on your work. You will go places!!!
Indeed your research is an Awakening for most mechatronics student as it’s a topic that solves not only the Nigerian shortage in food production but in the globe entirely.
I must say your research is timely.
This piece is really creative and thought provoking. It really enlightens on the direction we as a nation are to focus and invest in for the betterment of our country as a whole. Keep up the good work @Rosabeth Twarmi Balla.
Thank you so much victor…. Due to lack of exposure to techs in agriculture and old farming methods… People have forgotten and diverted attention from agriculture when infact we can not survive without food… Globally, there is increased awareness on food security with rise in the world population. As a country there is a need to rise to meet with global standards and even break new grounds to survive this predicted risks associated with food security.
nice one this is fantastic well done
Bala Rosebeth is intelligent in her protect
Bala Rosebeth is amazing very educative project.
Bala Rosebeth good job
Bala Rosebeth insightful and educative
Very beautiful piece dear🤝
Very beautiful piece dear
Waw! this is great!.
Great piece ❤️
A very nice and detailed piece opens up the infusion of mechatronics in agriculture in details to the reader Great job
Nice work… People need to understand the importance of mechatronics engineering to different aspect of life and right now in agriculture uve done a great work
A well researched article and intelligently put together.
Sonia Balla have demonstrated her talent and potentials.
Nigeria needs talented people like Sonia to help elevate our agriculture fit for the 21st century.
I learnt a lot from the research. Well done.
Great article
Nice piece, well done.
Genius ,great work dear
Weldon Sandra our daughter, maintain the tempo sky is the limit
This is 100% let’s get to implementing
For sure the use of robotics in agriculture is the game changer especially if Nigeria is to take her place in the multi-billion dollar cocoa market.
The traditional farming methods has in small way contributed to the dwindling fortunes of our farmers and by extension, Nigeria.
Rosabeth with this novel digital agriculture shall help transform the yield and profits. All that is required is for this project to be nurtured into reality in order to benefit from this academic and practical resource from this budding Engineer.
More grease to your elbow, Rosabeth
Thank you so much daddy. I chose cocoa because of its ancient history of its contribution to Nigeria’s economy. It is a reasource thst other countries have used to build economy.. Countries like ivory coast. Etc
good work.
But….
1.Please kindly state an example or examples where precision agriculture have been practiced
2. Are these robots readily available or they need to be made specifically for the purpose of your paper and imported into the country. ..
3. If they will be imported..what analyzed the importation expenses VS the potential yield when robots are used in our Cocoa farms
1. Precision agricultural practices are aimed at improving and getting the maximum results in agriculture in the most precise way… It has been applied in various aspects like global positioning systems, irrigation technologies etc
2. The robots mentioned in this paper are for illustration purpose and are inventions of international bodies. They are aimed at making us understand that we can build such robots to meet the standards of precision agriculture for various farming using cocoa as a case study. This is a novel idea in carrying out this research.
3. The idea is not to import these robots but carry out researchs in building them our selves… Importing will only incure expenses but still leave us behind in technological advancements in solving our problems.
Thank you
Commendable is the work of this author in providing this meaningful paper.
However, using autonomous systems for weed control, has these systems being used in cocoa nursery farms in Nigeria (maybe as an introduction or full use).
Thank you.
No fully autonomous weed control for cocoa nursery farms yet in Nigeria.. But there are platforms for autonomous weed mapping already in place which can be applied into building these robots to implement on cocoa farms after adequate research and measurements in line with the cocoa growing management and farming practices.
Bala. Good Piece you really made your research well.
I just have few questions. hope you considered, The Power Factor? Many Cities in Nigeria suffer from inadequate Power Supply. How will these machine run?… and considering the high Illiteracy in Tech by fellow Nigeria, how will these machines be handled, operated daily?
The issue of power supply is another aspect that needs tackling for us to be able to really create ground breaking technology globally… But we have solar energy now that can be introduced to these systems to try to curb the problem of power…
About being able to handle the machines, awareness programs on leaving old farming methods and adopting new ones should be introduced at different levels.
Top notch writing, the writer deserves more
Impressive work dear🙌🏽
Nice one keep it up
This is a great stride in the development of Mechatronics. The world needs Mechatronics and applying it in Agriculture makes us understand it’s utmost importance to life and since food is one of the basic needs of life hence it’s relevance
It’s a good one, keep up the food work…..
Article is good and Innovative 👍
This is commendable,great Job!
Great piece. Keep it up!
Very commendable 👍
Great job. Weldone
Agric-tech seems to be taking over our world,
population of the world keeps increasing as this population must be fed.
From my perspectives I believe your proposal is timely.
The implementation of this research paper it’s going to be a credit for all. Cocoa has brought Nigerian a lot of fortune.
Reviving this sector in a mechanised way would help Nigerian step towards it’s plan towards diversification.
I think this research should go beyond pen and paper.
Wow!!! Nice piece 😊👏👏
Wow!!! Nice piece 😊👏👏👏
Nice write up good luck rosy
Great job Ms Sonia Balla, as this paper goes way beyond jst an academic exercise cuz if put to use, would see a chain benefit that could greatly change the agricultural plight of the times here in Nigeria at large.
A well grounded work that cuts across sectors & as someone with a good knowledge of what automation engineering can & is doing for industries, especially with Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) & the ‘Ai’ as a whole. I’d say the major heads-up has been fashioned for the R&D department of these sectors to adopt & explore to the later.
Haven said this, the advantages & benefit of this paper, if implemented or effectively considered for adoption would surpass one’s imagination, not to talk about the level of food security this will inspire at a time where natural irregularities are bound & recking ills on food available in the parts of the world.
Exactly thank you so much… Food security is a global concern, therefore the need to break grounds in the agricultural sector as Nigeria is lagging behind As per agricultural technologies
This is very impressive! Keep up the good work dear.
Thank you very much
Definitely if we must become the giant of Africa we need to act like one, for sure the use of machines in agriculture would in no small measure improve our yield for our consumption and for export. This is very innovative!!!
Indeed we need to rise up to the name… And using our strengths can only make us bigger.. Thank you David
Nice work keep it up 👍
We live in the area of the world (Nigeria) where the average person is into agriculture but yet not many know about mechanized farming, this topic indeed will open the eyes of many and will help enhance Agriculture in our community.
Thank you, Bala, for this Thesis.
Thanks for sharing your insights Emmanuel… Indeed this research topic was meant as an eye opener to lay agriculturists in the country.
Good job! Well thought out.
I am confident, robotics, if applied effectively, will redefine and improve not only cocoa farming but general agriculture in Nigeria.
Exactly.. Thank you sir for sharing your thoughts
Great work dear,more grace n more ideologies we need more people with your intelligence and ideas👌👌👍👍
Thank you so much Tenton
A well articulated piece that seeks to us tech to improve on one of the basic food security issues. I believe that when her research is adopted and implemented, Nigeria will regain her glory in cocoa industry and standards set for the world to copy
Indeed.. Cocoa farming and production was one of the largest sector that contributed to the countries GDP.. The world is going automated and thus the need to adopt these farming practices into our agricultural sector and not just for cocoa farming. By doing these, we can measure up to global standards, maximizing resources with the help of IOT and other smart technology.
Innovative solutions are the stepping stones for growth. Doing what no one else can, and doing it to the best of your ability is the rocket to a better economy. This is really mind blowing and the accuracy of this report illuminates the the potential, problem and solution in the agro sector in NIGERIA. Keep up the work and development, and one day may this project shine light to other discoveries and breakthroughs in the Nation.
Thank you so much for sharing this insights… Nigeria shall make mind blowing inventions in the agro sector
Brilliant and really educative. If only our government will consider such innovative ideas it will really help save the present global food security challenge and the future.
Keep the good works dear the world will celebrate you surely
Yes indeed, food security is an aspect that the government should be concerned about for the future of its citizens. Thank you and Amen
Thanks for this excellent write up 👍👍
Nigeria should look into smarter ways to explore our agricultural potential, especially in the face of insecurity. The full potential of mechatronics must simply be explored
Very true … The world is evolving and therefore we need to also evolve to maintain relevance
Good work. Keep it up.
Thank you so much
Automation has brought us into a world of more convenience and increased productivity. Having a narrowed view of such technology for direct application is a huge step to great impacts.
I hope that necessary agencies will pick insight from this publication.
Thank you for doing this work Rosabeth.
Definitely meshack… Thank you for sharing your insights on the paper.
You highlighted the significance of agriculture in the Nigerian economy and the potential benefits of mechatronics in increasing efficiency and productivity in the sector furthermore you also highlighted the current reliance on primitive farming methods and tools and the lack of research on agricultural robotics in the country.
Your observations are in line with the potential benefits of mechatronics in agriculture, which can help improve the precision and accuracy of farming practices, reduce waste, and optimize resource use.
In conclusion it provides valuable insight into the challenges faced by farmers in Nigeria and the potential benefits of mechatronics in agriculture. It is important to continue research and development in this area to improve the efficiency and sustainability of farming practices in Nigeria and other developing countries.
It’s just a beautiful piece, keep it up Rosabeth !
A mechatronics Engineers insight… Well spelled out.. Thank you for sharing these thoughts on the paper.
With the advancement of technology and the drive to push the agricultural sector especially in Nigeria, this is a brilliant initiative towards that and I hope it comes to life someday. Weldone ma’am
Thank you so much dear.. Driving towards bringing it to life with further research ongoing..
1. What are the foreseeable challenges of the adoption of mechatronic practices in Cocoa nursery?
2. What is the practical implication of your proposal?
Good day. The foreseeable challenges may include
1 Amateur handling of machines by farmers unless properly educated on the use of such machines
2. Lack of appropriate expertise in cocoa nursery farming
3.Unavailabilty of resources and environment to build mechatronic machines in the country.
4. Farmers not wanting to adopt. new farming techniques due to fear of loss of their jobs on the farms and insisting on old farming techniques
The practical application is carrying out research in bringing to life a cocoa nursery farm that is fully operated mechatronically by adopting the technologies which have been mentioned in this paper which may include IOT in farm monitoring and analysis of farm data,
Building robots that can handle movements and arrangements of seedlings pots, automation of farming practices such as irrigation, weeding and fertilizer applications
Another challenge that adopting mechatronics technique of farming into cocoa nursery farming is faced with is the issue of being knowledgeable about the farming techniques used for cocoa farming. Factors like the exact amount of water the seedlings may need to survive, temperature readings of the nursery farm required for the cocoa within it growing stages, soil nutrients and contents that are adequate for steady and better growth of better seedlings that can survive harsh weather conditions and other conditions when transplanted finally to be grown into a cocoa tree.
Therefore those running this mechatronically run cocoa nursery farms must have close contact or deep knowledge of the farming.
Another perspective is the issue of companies who produce chocolate based products not owning a single cocoa farm. Or most farmers do not have a linkage to such companies to render them the goods.
All these are challenges that can arise with the technique being adopted and thereby the need to proffer solutions
Part of the practical application is gathering real-time data of farm( climate weather, ph level of soil, growth rate of seedlings.) to make adjustments that will give suitable conditions for the seedlings to produce viable seeds that are healthy and without disease.
ROSABETH TWARMI
1. Explain the major Component needed to setup Applications of Mechatronics In Agriculture
2. How can your system be automated towards so that it will not require human intervention at all times
The components needed to apply mechatronics into agriculture include sensors and detection devices that can monitor the farm data, and this data is sent to the cloud where it is analyzed and used to make adjustments on the farm, mobile robots that can move pots in the farm and other obstacles, micro-processors and micro-controllers that will be programmed into an IOTbased monitoring system can give real-time analysis of everything that happens in the nursery.
2. Automating the system to eliminate the human in the loop intervention will be done by programming certain conditions and commands into the software base of the system where conditions given to the system as the case may be for it to automatically perform some tasks on its own for example when the soil water of the plants reach a certain calibration, the irrigation system comes on automatically until it reads the soil moisture to reach a certain reading and then automatically goes off.
The farmer can also control some of these opwrations through their mobile devices and send commands to the robots in the farm to perform some tasks. These can eliminate or reduce human intervention in the farm
Fantastic job well done
Thank you
1. Practical approach to implementing the proposed solution is not well articulated in the article, besides, the research problem is not clearly established.
2. What is the contribution of this work different from the existing approaches?
3. How will this system optimally contribute to the growth of agriculture in Nigeria essentially in large-scale farming?
At the time of entering into the competition, the research was at idea level. I have made further progress by introducing an acquaponic system of farming the cocoa seedlings along side catfish farming. Cocoa seedlings take 5-6 months before maturing to be transplanted to the fields which is equivalent to the time it takes the fish to mature to table size. The water from fish ponds that are usually wasted contain nutrients that can be used to grow crops therefore an acquaponic system is built where sensory data of the fish pond and the cocoa nursery are collected, i. e the parameters set to be measured by the sensors(ph level sensors, dissolved oxygen sensors in the pond, and humidity sensors, moisture sensors etc on the cocoa nursery farm.
2. The existing approaches are not efficient in the sense that there is no fully mechatronically run cocoa nursery farm in Nigeria yet and applying these techniques can aid in large scale farming of the crop which in turn can grow the country’s economy. The idea of introducing the acquaponic system into it is to stop wastage of fish pond water and utilize the nutrients in growing the cocoa seedlings. Thing speak platform can be used for real-time monitoring of what happens on the farm and whenever a set parameter significantly deviates, the farmer receives an SMS on their mobile phone. This is a proposal i and my team wrote for the Tetfair program 2022.
3. A lot of factors affect the growth of cocoa seedlings and it requires expertise and monitoring which can be tiring and time consuming to the farmers. This is part of the reasons farmers shy away from it. Slight variations in temperature can affect the quality of the seedling and so farming and selling of quality seedlings in large scale will mean better cocoa seeds which can be sold to industries that make cocoa based products within and outside Nigeria. It provides a Technology based environment for large scale farming reducing the human labour / manpower needed when it is done manually.
I love the idea of upgrading our tool to improve our efficiency to produce more crops and to evolve into a brighter future. Wish you all the best.
It’s wonderful to see someone with your potential, this idea will surely solve a huge problem in the agricultural sector in Africa. Am really impressed with your contribution to the recent Research for Impart (R4i) program that took place in INNOV8 hub Abuja: using IoT and embedded systems to create a solution for sustainable cities.
All the best Daughter.
Great job, very proud of you.