Smart Agriculture Monitoring System for Farming Cooperative

Project Overview

Kisan Sahkari Mandli, a farming cooperative with 200+ members in Anand district, was facing the same challenges that plague Indian agriculture — unpredictable yields, water wastage, and late disease detection. Individual farmers couldn't afford precision agriculture technology, but the cooperative structure allowed us to deploy an AI-powered monitoring system that benefited all members across 500+ acres.

The Challenge

Water Management

• 40% water wastage through traditional flood irrigation
• No soil moisture data — irrigation based on visual judgment and calendar
• Groundwater depletion threatening long-term farming viability
• Uneven water distribution causing some areas to be overwatered, others parched

Crop Health

• Disease detection only after visible damage — typically 15-25% yield already lost
• Blanket pesticide application regardless of actual infestation levels
• No variety-specific guidance for different crops across the cooperative
• Knowledge gap between agricultural research and farmer practice

Economic Pressure

• ₹15 lakhs annual over-spend on fertilisers and pesticides
• 20% average yield loss that better management could prevent
• No market timing intelligence for optimal selling
• Individual farmers unable to invest in modern agricultural technology

Our Solution

IoT Sensor Network

• Deployed 150 soil sensors measuring moisture, pH, temperature, and nutrient levels
• Connected via LoRaWAN network covering 500+ acres with low-power, long-range communication
• Set up 5 weather stations for hyperlocal climate monitoring
• Created sensor maintenance protocol with farmer involvement

AI Disease Detection

• Trained computer vision model on 100,000+ crop images for common Gujarat diseases
• Integrated bi-weekly drone surveys with satellite imagery analysis
• Built early warning system detecting disease patterns 5-7 days before visible symptoms
• Created treatment recommendation engine suggesting targeted interventions

Smart Irrigation

• Developed AI irrigation scheduler using soil moisture, weather forecast, and crop water needs
• Integrated with existing pump and drip irrigation infrastructure
• Created automated alerts when fields need watering
• Optimised schedules to minimise electricity costs (aligning with off-peak power rates)

Farmer Mobile App

• Built mobile app entirely in Gujarati with voice-enabled features
• Provided daily field-by-field recommendations for irrigation and care
• Included crop market prices and weather forecasts
• Enabled photo-based disease identification for instant diagnosis

Results

Resource Efficiency

• 30% reduction in water usage through precision irrigation
• ₹8 lakhs annual savings on fertiliser through targeted application
• 40% reduction in pesticide usage via early disease detection
• Electricity costs reduced through optimised pump scheduling

Yield Improvement

• 22% increase in average crop yield in first harvest cycle
• Disease losses reduced from 15-25% to under 5%
• Crop quality improvement commanding 10-15% premium pricing
• Second crop planning enabled by soil health insights

Community Impact

• 200+ farmers empowered with data-driven decision making
• Knowledge sharing through cooperative-wide crop insights
• Youth engagement — younger farmers attracted to tech-enabled farming
• Model replicated by 2 neighbouring cooperatives

Client Testimonial

"My father farmed by intuition for 40 years. This system shows us what's happening underground that we could never see. The water savings alone paid for the system. Our farmers are now earning 22% more per acre."

Mukeshbhai Patel, Chairman, Kisan Sahkari Mandli