Claims:We claim:
1. A system for digital agriculture comprising a farmer enrolment and information module (1), adapted to be connected interactively with an application module (2), such that to enter and receive information to and from the application module (2), a technology integration module (4) connected interactively with the application module (2) being provided to integrate the technology needed to facilitate working of the system so as to provide required reports by the system, an integration module (5) connected interactively with the application module (2) being provided to obtain info from different modules and provide suggestions to the farmers so as to provide maximum benefits to the farmers regarding the price of the crop and different Govt. schemes, an output module (6) connected interactively with the application module (2) being provided to store different kinds of reports generated by the system and provide access to the farmer to see the said reports as and when required by the famer.
2. The system for digital agriculture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the technology integration module (4) comprises various technological module to link plurality of data base, for example weather data base (7), agro-climatic information data base (8), agro-ecological information data base (9), precision farming information data base (10), etc., so as to procure agro-climatic and agro-ecological information.
3. The system for digital agriculture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the integration module (5) comprises various integration module to link plurality of data base, for example mandi data base (11), land record data base (12) and authority database (13), such that to obtain information from the respective data base.
4. The system for digital agriculture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the output module (6) is provided to provide different kinds of information, for example, seed selection info, fertilizer recommendation based on organic, inorganic and mix farming practices thereby helping farmer in predicting its produce as organic or inorganic produce.
5. The system for digital agriculture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the application module is provided on a server, for example, a cloud server.
6. A process for digital agriculture comprising, enrolling a farmer with a system for digital agriculture through a farmer enrolment and information module (1) using a mobile phone or a computer having internet connection, entering personal information about the farmer and other details, procuring technical information form a technology integration module (4) and generating report about seed selection, amount of respective fertilizers and water cycle to be used to grow a crop in the land, generating reports to inform time to harvest the crop such to take away agricultural produce safely to home, entering information about agricultural production by the farmer, entering information about fertilizer used to grow the crop, procuring information from integration module (5) and generating report about available stock and rate of a particular crop in the area, looking for stock available in the area and price of the produce so as to decide to sell the produce at right time to earn maximum benefit for the produce.
7. The process for digital agriculture as claimed in claim 1, wherein personal information about the farmer comprises, for example, name, father’s name, age, family details including wife and children.
8. The process for digital agriculture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the other details comprises financial and occupational details, land details along with khasra number, area size, and location / geo mapping associated with it, livestock details owned by farmers, complete info about the soil health including info about the availability of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), pH, Organic Carbon (OC), Elemental Carbon (EC), moisture content, pH, etc., in soil.
9. The process for digital agriculture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the report about seed selection, amount of respective fertilizers and water cycle to be used is generated based on the information entered by the farmer about the soil health and info procured from the technological integration module.
10. The process for digital agriculture as claimed in claim 1, wherein harvesting report in generated by the system keeping in view the weather conditions and to facilitate the farmer to take away the produce safely to his / her house.

Description
FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to a system for digital agriculture. In particular this invention relates to a system to analyze, calculate and provide information about health of the farmland, suggestions about the seeds, fertilizers and watering cycle / irrigation planning, input cost and yields management to be used in the farmland in order to obtain maximum crop yield and even maximum price of the agricultural produce.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Most of the farmers are not aware about the latest practices used in the agriculture sector and therefore are unable to increase agricultural productivity. In fact trend of prevailing farming practices have never been comprehensively analyzed, hence various agrological factors such as crop growth cycles, soil types, agro-climatic profile, varietal and environment factors still goes unnoticed. Such inadequacy in understanding the farming patterns leads to soil structure extermination, nutrient imbalance, weed growth and decline in agricultural productivity. Thus, farmers are at huge losses and thereby posing both economic as well as farm crisis.
However, some vigilant farmers get the soil tested before cultivation of a crop in their agricultural fields. The soil samples are either sent to the soil testing labs or the farmers go to the soil testing labs, along with the soil sample, for getting the soil tested for the availability of the nutrients, for example, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and pH (acidity / alkalinity) in the soil.
Soil testing, to determine the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, pH, etc. is performed in the testing labs, manually, using different chemical reagents so as to analyze health of the soli and to supply required nutrient (for example, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, etc.), if required as the test report.
Chinese utility model no. CN201838000U, discloses a soil testing and formulated fertilization calculator. A microcontroller is respectively connected with respective I/O (input/output) interfaces of a data memory, a key control module and a display screen control module via corresponding peripheral I/O interfaces of the microcontroller, the key control module is connected with an operating key via an input port of the key control module, the display screen control module is fittingly connected with a display screen via an output port of the display screen control module, and batteries provide power for the microcontroller, the data memory, the key control module and the display screen control module via a power supply circuit.
Chinese utility model no. CN200997134Y discloses a kind of fertilizer calculator for use for calculating amount of fertilizer used for agricultural production. The present invention aims to provide a fertilizer calculator, capable of overcoming defects in the prior calculation of the calculated Fertilizer. The invention adopted technical solution to improve the existing design of the fertilizer calculator. The calculator structure comprises a calculator display, a keyboard, a chip, a number key input control circuit. There is also tied for the number keys to select the function key, key organic fertilizer, scalar key elements, fertilizer keys, on-chip computer language cured fertilization expert advisory system.
International patent application no. WO2017056100A1, discloses a system and a method for providing agriculture information in a mobile device. The mobile device allows a farmer to select a specific language and crop from a list and download the application from the cloud server. The home page of the application comprises several icons that provides detailed information about the selected crops or animal husbandry. The application displays the information relating to the crop on the screen of the mobile device and helps the farmer to choose right variety of crop, right amount of fertilizer, risk mitigation, post harvesting techniques and operating the pump set remotely.
International patent application no. WO2017029592A1, discloses device and method for measurement of soil health parameters and fertilizer recommendation. In an aspect, the disclosed device can determine quantities of organic carbon, available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulphur (S), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), boron (B), manganese (Mn), and copper (Cu) in a sample of soil. In another aspect, the device can additionally provide status of soil pH (based on which gypsum requirement and lime requirement are determined) and soil electric conductivity (EC) of the soil sample. In another aspect, calcareousness of a soil sample is measured based on the measurement of volume of gas of the sample in relation to volume of gas of a standard when specific strength and measured quantities of specified chemicals are added in both, and the results are fed in the main unit containing microcontroller.
Chinese patent application no. CN105794379A, discloses a method of soil testing and fertilization of a rape, which belongs to the technical field of application of fertilizer. The method mainly comprises following three steps: i. determination of soil nutrients; ii. calculation of a fertilizing amount; and iii. fertilization. The method is a timed and quantified fertilization method, can prevent and control excess application of fertilizer, balances soil nutrients, does not destroy a soil environment, and timely provides nutrients needed by crops, improves the utilization rate of fertilizer, increases the output of crops and protects the environment.
US Patent no. US20050150160A1, discloses a process of selecting a crop variety, comprising: viewing a digitized map of a field, the digitized map depicting areas denoted by an indicium, said areas having an optimized adaptation for a variety subset; and selecting the crop variety from the variety subset, the variety subset denoted by the indicium.
There are disadvantages associated with the conventional soil testing devices / systems. One of the disadvantages is that there exist various challenges in making decisions about the seed selection, real-time sowing of seed and other daily schedule or upcoming plans of farming based on weather.
Another disadvantages associated with the conventional soil testing systems / devices is that seed selection suggestion is not provided keeping in view the local environment, actual sowing time and crop harvesting time so as to increase the crop yields.
Yet another disadvantages associated with the conventional soil testing system is that conventional soil testing is cumbersome and there is no scientific base.
Still another disadvantage associated with the conventional soil testing systems is that the test are conducted manually and therefore there are chances of human errors in the test reports.
A further disadvantage associated with the conventional soil testing systems is that the test reports are not precise.
Another disadvantage associated with the conventional soil testing systems / devices is that corrective measures are not suggested in these report.
Yet another disadvantage associated with the conventional soil testing systems / devices is that use of organic fertilizers are not suggested in these report.
Still another disadvantage associated with the conventional soil testing systems is that the test reports are not made in the local language.
Therefore, there is need to invent an IT (informationa and technology) based digital system to analyze, calculate and provide information about health of the farmland, suggestions about the seeds, fertilizers and watering cycle / irrigation planning, input cost and yields management to be used in the farmland in order to obtain maximum crop yield and even maximum price of the agricultural produce.
OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture, capable to conduct soil testing and selection of seed and fertilizer, which obviates the disadvantages associated with the conventional soil testing systems / prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to provide information about field preparation, crop to be grown, water management, fertilizer type and amount, soil health, irrigation practices, etc.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to assess soil health by examining pH, Organic Carbon, Elemental Carbon, NPK, moisture content in the soil.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to provide recommendation about optimum amount of fertilizer to be used and even crop specific advisory and alerts are provided for various agro-climatic zones so as to obtain maximum yield of the crop.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to provide details of the immediate microclimate for a farmland and conducts predictive modelling to make recommendations to help farmers plan and optimize planting, irrigation, fertilizing, and pest control.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to suggest seeds which are climate-resilient and thus the system help minimizing the associated production risks.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to suggest about the most favorable time and season of sowing a specific crop in a particular farmland, thereby avoiding sowing of the crops that are not feasible for a given area at a particular time.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to help farmer to determine right time of harvesting the crop, thereby attaining both optimum yield benefits as well as revenue generation.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to provide weather information including details of humidity, temperature, wind and rainfall for a particular day and the forecast for the next fifteen days. Extreme weather alerts or unseasonal rains are also notified to the farmers in advance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to provide information on past and present trends of drought, rain logging and hailstorms. Also the system provides information about various agronomic practices for different crops as per the recommendations of various scientific institutions. Such practices showcase week-by-week calendar of activities from pre-sowing to harvesting stage of a crop cycle.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to conduct soil testing without using sophisticated equipment’s and therefore conducting the tests in cost effective manner. The system can also work if the soil test results are manually input.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system for digital agriculture capable to generate test reports in the local language.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to this invention there is provided a system for digital agriculture comprises farmer enrolment and information module, adapted to be connected interactively with an application module such that to enter and receive information to and from the application module, a technology integration module connected interactively with the application module being provided to integrate the technology needed to facilitate working of the system so as to provide required reports by the system, an integration module connected interactively with the application module being provided to obtain info from different modules and provide suggestions to the farmers so as to provide maximum benefits to the farmers regarding the price of the crop and different Govt. schemes, an output module connected interactively with the application module being provided to give outputs generated by the system as and when required by the farmer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A system for digital agriculture, according to a preferred embodiment, is herein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein;
Fig. 1, illustrates block diagram of the system,
Fig. 2, illustrates block diagram of farmer enrolment and information module,
Fig. 3, illustrates block diagram of technology integration module,
Fig. 4, illustrates block diagram of integration module,
Fig. 5, illustrates process flow chart of the system,
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A system for digital agriculture is herein described with numerous specific details so as to provide a complete understanding of the invention. However, these specific details are exemplary details and should not be treated as limitation to the scope of the invention. Throughout this specification, the word “comprise” or variations such as “comprises or comprising”, are to be understood to imply the inclusions of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusions of any other element, integer or step or group of elements, integers or steps.
Referring to figure 2, a system for digital agriculture according to an embodiment the present invention comprises farmer enrolment and information module (1) adapted to be connected interactively with an application module (2) provided on a server, for example, a cloud server (3) such that to enter / feed and receive information to and from the application module (2). A technology integration module (4), adapted to be connected interactively with the application module (2), is provided to integrate the technology needed to facilitate working of the system and provide required reports / results by the system. An integration module (5), adapted to be connected interactively with the application module (2), is provided to obtain info from different modules, analyze these info and provide suggestions to the farmers so as to provide maximum benefits to the farmers regarding the price of the crop and different Govt. schemes. An output module (6), adapted to be connected interactively with the application module (2), is provided to give outputs, for example reports / results, generated by the system as and when required by the famer or agent.
The farmer enrolment and information module (1) comprises a system and is adapted to be operated by an agent or farmer on a smart phone and / or on a computer, if the phone and computer have facility to be connected with an internet service. The farmer enrolment and information module (1) is provided to facilitate enrolment of the farmer with the system and enter personal information, for example, name, father’s name, age, and complete family details including wife and children. Financial and occupational details, land details along with khasra number, area size, and location / geo mapping associated with it is also entered / fed to the system. Similarly, livestock details owned by farmers are also entered / fed into the system by the farmer or agent. Complete info about the soil health / profile including info about the availability of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), pH, Organic Carbon (OC), Elemental Carbon (EC), moisture content, pH, etc., (micro nuturituents can also be provided) in soil are entered / fed by the system after testing the soil sample of the farm land, automatically.
Based on the above info, mapping of N, P, K, OC, pH, EC, S, Zn, B, Fe, Mn, and Cu, is carried out by the system so as to determine the soil profile. Nutritional quality of crop highly relies on soil profile of the farmland. Abrupt change in above mentioned parameters drastically affect the yield, but the present system ensures a close check over these. Soil testing helps to understand the changing requirements of soil nutrients. These info also help farmer to choose best seeds and required amount of fertilizers to be used. The system collectively monitor these parameters at one platform and therefore reduces the burden on the farmer by acting as supporting tool for them.
Referring to figure 2, the technology integration module (4) comprises various technological module to link plurality of data base, for example weather data base (7), agro-climatic information data base (8), agro-ecological information data base (9), precision farming information data base (10), etc., so as to procure agro-climatic and agro-ecological information. These info are then analyzed by the application module (2), based on the pre-defined data available with the module (2), in order to suggest appropriate farming approach and to update the farmer regarding weather / moisture / humidity related to farmland. Satellite imagery helps to precisely identify the geographical aspects of farmland. The information regarding changing weather helps the farmer in protecting their crops from any major damage. Similarly, present system also depict the moisture content present in the soil and therefore irrigation requirement is predicted in better manner and also best variety of seed is chosen based on the above info and requirements. Therefore, the farmer ensures adaptability of best seed sowing time, irrigation time, harvesting time to obtain better yield.
Referring to figure 3, the integration module (5) comprises various integration module to link plurality of data base, for example mandi data base (11), land record data base (12) and authority database (13), such that to obtain information from the respective data base. The system obtain info about the expected selling price from the mandi data base, analyse the info and guide the farmer regarding bestselling option of their produce both in terms of location and the price. The integration module helps the farmer to obtain entire set of information at single platform. Information regarding policies and schemes run by Government or private organizations for farmer’s welfare are also monitored by present system. Thus the information about the mandi, land area and authority are made available with the complete details to the system so as to provide maximum benefits to the farmers and to ensure best yield, best price for the produce and also to avail all the benefits being provided to the farmers under various Govt. schemes.
Referring to figure 4, the output module (6) is provided to store different kinds of reports generated by the system and provide access to the farmer to see the said reports as and when required by the famer. The output module stores different kinds of reports / suggestions, for example reports / suggestions about seed selection, fertilizer recommendation based on organic, inorganic and mix farming practices thereby helps the farmer in predicting its produce as organic or inorganic and water management needed to grow the crops in a proper manner. The system also evaluate efficiency of farming practices by depicting as to whether a particular practice has introduced any positive impact over the yield or not. The system further provide the facility for best seed selection based on crop and specialized variety. In fact choice of seed is a vital step to assure the best produce. The system also provide agro climatic advisory to help the farmer to determine time of seed sowing, irrigation and harvesting. Additionally, the system provide information about the use of pesticide and / or insecticide so as to obtain better yield of their produce. These information help the farmer in making the decision based on technical aspects rather than following the historic myths. The system also reveal the area related information such as price of produce of a particular crop with its rate and the farmer easily gets updated about it without marking their physical presence in the mandi. All the mandi updates of desired area and desired product are obtained, by the farmers, while sitting in their respective farmland. The system thus facilitates the farmers about the demand of their produce in that particular area at a particular price and the farmer thus fixes price for their particular produce based upon its demand and availability.
Referring to figure 5, a process flow chart of the system is shown. A farmer in block (i), enroll himself / herself with the system using his mobile phone and / or computer and enters all the relevant information, for example, name, father’s name, age, and complete family details including wife and children and full address using farmer enrolment and information module (1). Also, info about the livestock, owned by farmers, are entered / fed into the system by the farmer in block (i).
Similarly, in block (ii) information about the financial and occupational details, land details along with khasra number, area size, and location / geo mapping associated with it are entered / fed to the system.
The farmer in block (iii) enters / feed complete information about the soil health including info about the presence of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) in the soil, Organic Carbon (OC), Elemental Carbon (EC), moisture content, pH, etc., present in soil, are entered / fed in block (ii) after testing the soil sample of the farm land. In one one option these entries are fed by an API link and another application automatically or manually.
All the above mentioned information, entered using the farmer enrolment and information module (1) are stored in the application module (2) provided on a cloud server (3).
The application module (2) in block (iv) procures technical information form the technology integration module (4) and generates the report, based on the info about the soil health and technological info, about the seed to be used, name and amount of the fertilizer to be used and stores these reports in the output module (6) of the system such that to be accessed by the farmer as and when required.
The farmer in block (v) access the report using the mobile phone and / or computer and sow the seeds in the farm land, as per system advisory report and uses the right amount of the organic / inorganic fertilizer as suggested in the system advisory so as to provide proper nutrition needed to grow the crop in a proper manner.
The application module of the system in block (vi) procures information about the weather, agro-climatic information, agro-ecological information, etc., and analyze the same and generate suggestion report about appropriate farming approach and to update the farmer regarding weather / moisture / humidity related to farmland in order to facilitate water management.
The farmer in block (vii) apply water to the crop at the required time and as per the system advisory to grow the crop in a proper manner and obtain the best yield of the crop.
The farmer in block (viii) harvest the crop keeping in view the weather conditions as advised by the system so as take away the produce safely to his / her house. The farmer enter the amount of the produce crop wise.
One of the uniqueness of the system is fertilizer recommendation. The system provides the information about the fertilizer to be usd. It also provie the recommendation for Chemical, organic and mix (organic & chemical). Also, the farmer have the option enter the info about the fertilizer used to grow the crop. In one option system have capability to collects the information about the used fertilicater and pesticide from the integration or API.
The application module of the system in block (ix) procures information about the stock of the different agricultural produce, organic and inorganic, available in the farm or area through integration module and related rate of such produce and generate advisory report relating to the respective produce for the use of the farmer.
The farmer, in block (x), access the reports relating to different agricultural produce to enable famer to decide selling time for the produce to get the desired rate of the produce.
The application module of the system in block (xi) procures information about Govt. schemes, through the integration module, and generate reports about the Govt. schemes which are beneficial to the farmers. These reports are stored in the output module of the system.
The farmer, in block (xii), access the reports relating to the Govt. schemes and avail the benefits if available to him / her.
Thus the system of the present invention provided all kinds of the information to the farmers needed to grow different crops and as per the requirement of the weather conditions. The farmer thus has not run here and there to collect the information about growing crops in their respective farmland in their respective area.
Certain features of the invention have been described with reference to the exemplary embodiments. However, the description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the exemplary embodiments as well as other embodiments of the invention, which are apparent to the persons skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, are deemed to lie within the spirit and scope of the invention.