Using Human Centered Design to Improve Socio-economic Livelihoods with Modernized Irrigation Systems

The agro-sector contributes significantly to the Indian economy, however there has been a decline in the agricultural practices over the years. One of the major reasons for that is the inefficient irrigation practices followed. This predicament was endured by the farming community of Dewgain, Jharkhand whose challenges have been studied in this paper. The study revealed that water scarcity was prevalent in Dewgain during the summers. Poor water management has led to decline of agricultural activities during summer resulting in seasonal unemployment. In order to address this challenge, the study focused on understanding the current irrigation practices followed and its impact on agricultural sustenance. The study was conducted using Human Centered Design. The outcome of the study was analysed through qualitative and quantitative methods. As a result, an IoT enabled solution for efficient irrigation management in the form of Automated Irrigation Management System (AIMS) was proposed and experimented.