iFarm: Development of cloud-based system of cultivation management for precision agriculture
Precision agriculture is aimed at optimizing farming management and it requires records of agricultural work. Farmers conventionally write records on paper but it is difficult and tedious to check past agricultural-work data and control the cost of agricultural products. A system of cultivation management, iFarm, is proposed, which was developed to support efficient farming management. The system consists of smartphone applications, Web browsers and a cloud server. Farmers on farmland can easily refer to work plans, enter field data into the cloud system, and share them with head office in real time by using smartphones. Farmers at head office can analyze data in the cloud system with a Web browser and estimate farming costs and form work plans based on their analyses.
Proposed of cultivation management system with informatics and communication technology
Recently, many of agricultural-work pursuers are recording agricultural-work record on the paper basis. These situation based on paper recording has difficulty to check the past agricultural-work data and the cost control of agricultural products, compared to electrically stored data. Many farmhouses want to manage agricultural-work information, in order to grasp the cost price. Furthermore, the needs for the systematization of cultivated land management from many farming people in Japan So, in this study, we propose cultivated land management system in order to solve these problems. This system stores the agricultural-work data into electrical database through the Web browser.
Impacts of Environmental Degradation on Profitability of Cassava Production in Southeast, Nigeria
This paper examines the impacts of soil erosion on profitability of cassava production in Enugu State, Nigeria. The study specifically compared the costs and returns of the farmers operating on eroded and non-eroded farms and explicitly analyzed the factors influencing profitability of cassava farming enterprise using partial budgetary technique and regression analysis. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 200 cassava farmers for the study. Primary data were collected on respondents’ age, sex, educational background, farm size, as well as on quantities and prices of inputs and outputs using pre-tested questionnaire. Partial budgetary analysis showed that farmers operating on eroded farms recorded lower crop yield resulting in a significant difference (p<0.05) between the average gross margin earned per hectare on non-eroded ( N 185, 553) and eroded ( N 152, 312) farms. Regression model estimates showed that farm size, labor, input-usage and access to extension services positively and significantly influenced profitability of cassava farming enterprise; whereas incidence of soil erosion and large household size have negative effects on  profitability of cassava farming enterprise in the study area. Cassava farmers in the study area could substantially increase their profit if farmers have access to more land, credit to purchase farm inputs and extension services geared towards good agricultural practices and soil conservation methods. It is also pertinent for government to design and implement special schemes to control and mitigate the effect of soil erosion in order to forestall continuous degradation of arable lands. Keywords: Profitability; Budgetary technique; Multiple regression; Soil erosion; Cassava farmers.