E-crop device to detect soil quality unveiled

NOW, farmers can get periodic SMSes about water and nutrient content in soil, facilitating timely intervention to address farming-related challenges, thanks to a scientist from Kerala. Electronic Crop (E-Crop), developed by Santhosh Mithra of the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), promises to revolutionise the farming sector at a time when low yield, lack of nutrients in soil and climate changes are making life miserable for farmers.

- K S SREEJITH

E-Crop, an Internet of Things device, can simulate crop growth in real time by calculating calculate nutrients and water requirements in the soil and generating agro -advisory for the crop on a daily basis. Mithra said the crop simulation model-based device provides periodical advice as SMS to growers about water and nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) requirements.

"I have been studying and developing crop simulation models for almost a decade," Mithra, the CTCRI principal scientist (computer applications) said.

"We developed the device in 2014 and had been testing it.

The patent is the official approval for the device," he said.