Internet of Things-Based Smart Farming Monitoring System for Bolting Reduction in Onion Farms

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan is amongst the top ten onion-producing countries in the world. Though in Pakistan, most of the districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa produce onions, Malakand division lonely contributes 60% of the total onion production of the country. In onion farming, bolting is an insidious phenomenon that occurs in onion plants due to fluctuations in environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light intensity. Due to bolting, the flowering stem of an onion plant is produced before the crop is harvested, resulting in a poor-quality harvest and yield. Therefore, from a farmer’s perspective, it is highly desirable to monitor and control the environmental factors to avoid bolting. In this paper, we propose and design a new prototype, namely, a smart farming monitoring system (SFMS) for bolting reduction, which is based on the generic three-layered IoT architecture. By using IoT (Internet of things) technology and careful remote monitoring, a more favorable environment can be provided to reduce and avoid onion bolting. To analyze the efficacy and performance of the proposed SFMS, a real test-bed implementation was carried out. The SFMS prototype was installed both in the open and in a greenhouse environment to monitor onion crops. Based on the data received via sensors, the percentage of onion bolting was recorded as 16.7% in the open environment while 3% in the closed environment. In the closed environment, optimal temperature, humidity, and light intensity were provided to the onion crops using the SFMS. For this reason, the percentage of onion bolting was reduced from 16.7% to 3%, consequently yielding better onion production. Moreover, the SFMS is a low-cost, easy-to-install solution that is developed with locally available hardware and resources, and we believe that this new solution can transform conventional onion farming into a more productive and convenient smart farming in the region.