Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background Study
The internet of things or simply IoT is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical
and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the
ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer
interaction. It is a system of physical objects whose purpose is to collect and exchange data with
each other over the Internet. The invention and involvement of IoT revolutionized has different
processes that are involved in many domains such as home security, equipment manufacturing,
health monitoring, automated transportation and especially agriculture. In modern agriculture,
IoT is efficiently utilized in many subdomains such as precision farming, smart crop monitoring,
soil quality, smart irrigation systems and mainly others.
Agriculture is an important part of Nepal's economy and is the backbone of our country. Around
68% of livelihood is depended on agriculture which accounts for about 34% of the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). Like Nepal and other countries, majority of country population
depends on farming and nations incomes has comes from farming. Agriculture is major boon to
country's economy. Agriculture contributes nearly one-third of the nation's GDP and provides
employment to two-third of the Nepali people. However, the annual population growth rate of
1.3% has put pressure on agricultural productivity and one of its impacts seen is the decreasing
value added by agriculture in GDP. The agro-ecological lands of Nepal have been divided into
three kinds: the terai, or the plains, the hills in the midsection, and the mountainous region. 23%
of the land area lies in Terai part of Nepal and is the most fertile land. The annual cultivation rate
in terai region is over 40%.Terai region produces crops including jute, sugarcane, maize, wheat,
and vegetables. The hilly region comprises of 42% of the land area of Nepal, but only 20% of it
is currently used for cultivation. Maize and wheat are mostly produced here. Owing to weather
conditions, only 5% of the land in mountainous region is suitable for cultivation. Out of the
country’s 14.7-billion-hectare area, only 2.6 million hectares of land in Nepal is arable. With the
increasing population, the per capita consumption demand for agricultural products is expected
to grow rapidly. For example, the demand for fresh vegetables is expected to grow at 1.9%
annually till 2020. It is therefore, more important now than ever to utilize these arable land to
produce maximum crops possible.
The main purpose of this study will be investing how IoT based smart agriculture change the
face of farming and cultivation. Now a day, Farmers can get lots of knowledge and information
about latest technology and farming techniques through IoT. In smart farming, a system is built
for monitoring the crop field with the help of sensors (i.e. light, humidity, temperature, soil
moisture etc.) and automating the irrigation system.
1.2 Problem Statement