Precision Livestock Farming
Nepal is an agricultural country. Livestock farming is an integral part of the agricultural production system in Nepal, providing draft power for human consumption, fertilizers and high-value animal proteins such as meat, milk and eggs, which account for approximately 32% of agricultural GDP. Poultry farming is one of the rapidly growing business sectors in nepal.
However, due to insufficient knowledge and training, farmers sometimes need to bear huge losses. Chickens, specially the boilers, have precarious health as they are highly susceptible to slight changes in their environmental factors like temperature and humidity.
Considering this in mind, me and my group made a prototype system that can automate most of the critical work for farmers. It is very difficult to track and regulate the temperature, humidity and lighting manually, which can easily be automated using simple sensors and some actuators. We’ve created a sensor based feedback system which continuously regulates the environment giving them the most congenial environment to grow properly.
Moreover, we’ve also implemented a camera based hen tracking system to analyze their distribution and mobility patterns. The lethargic behavior of hens can easily be detected and appropriate remedies can be taken in time to avoid future losses.
All the systems can easily be monitored and controlled by farmers using a simple mobile application, which any farmer who knows how to use facebook, can understand and operate easily.
We’ve presented this project idea on one of the most reputed national level hardware design competition LOCUS, and succeeded to achieve the best Hardware Design Award.