Contextual use of a Smart Farm Irrigation System using the Internet of Things (IoT)

A crucial component of agricultural output is water, and its production can be reduced by a shortage, which negatively affects food security. To address this developing issue, irrigation was employed as a form of water management. Various irrigation methods were employed, but there were various limitations to those methods, such as soil and water erosion due to the inability of soil moisture determination. This work focuses on the creation of an irrigation system based on the Internet of Things for sustainable agriculture. The implementation was done using an Arduino microcontroller programmed in the C programming language. The application's data on soil moisture level, valve condition, and remote management of the smart irrigation system were all displayed using an Arduino microcontroller. In Nigeria, the smart irrigation system was tested on three different soil types: clay, loam, and sandy. Data, including the moisture reading and irrigation time, were acquired after inserting the moisture sensor probe into the soil sample. The average time taken to irrigate clay, loamy, and sandy soil at 2kg, 5kg, 8 kg, and 10kg was 10.93s, 15s, 19.75s, 23.25s; 9.5s, 12.4s, 17s, 21.5s; 8.25s, 11.3s, 14.7s, and 20.2s, respectively. This system helps reduce soil erosion as it monitors and reads soil moisture in real time.