Precision for Smallholder Farmers: A Small-Scale-Tailored Variable Rate Fertilizer Application Kit

Jelle Van Loon, Alicia B. Speratti, Louis Gabarra and Bram Govaerts
Additional contact information
Jelle Van Loon: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Carretera Mexico-Veracruz km. 45, El Batán, Texcoco C.P. 56237, Estado de Mexico, Mexico
Alicia B. Speratti: CIMMYT Consultant, Ramon Turró 120, 08005 Barcelona, Spain
Louis Gabarra: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Carretera Mexico-Veracruz km. 45, El Batán, Texcoco C.P. 56237, Estado de Mexico, Mexico
Bram Govaerts: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Carretera Mexico-Veracruz km. 45, El Batán, Texcoco C.P. 56237, Estado de Mexico, Mexico

Agriculture, 2018, vol. 8, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Precision agriculture technology at the hands of smallholder farmers in the developing world is often deemed far-fetched. Low-resource farmers, however, are the most susceptible to negative changes in the environment. Providing these farmers with the right tools to mitigate adversity and to gain greater control of the production process could unlock their potential and support rural communities to meet the increasing global food demand. In this study, a real-time variable rate fertilizer application system was developed and tested as an add-on kit to conventional farm machinery. In the context of low investment costs for smallholder farmers, high user-friendliness and easy installment were the main concerns for the system to be viable. The system used nitrogen (N)-sensors to assess the plant nutrient status on the spot and subsequently adjust the amount of fertilizer deposited according to the plant’s needs. Test bench trials showed that the add-on kit performed well with basic operations, but more precision is required. Variability between N-sensors and metering systems, combined with power fluctuations, created inaccuracies in the resulting application rate. Nevertheless, this work is a stepping stone towards catalyzing the elaboration of more cutting-edge precision solutions to support small-scale farmers to become successful, high producing agro-entrepreneurs.

Keywords: precision agriculture; variable rate fertilizer application system; sustainable agriculture; NDVI; mechanization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/8/4/48/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/8/4/48/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:8:y:2018:i:4:p:48-:d:137903

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().