Chapter 12 - Techniques applied to increase soil fertility in smart agriculture

Abstract

This study focuses on two different approaches to efficiently manage soil fertility to increase crop yield—precision farming and nuclear agriculture. The first approach focusing on precision farming aims to improve crop yield based on soil fertility. Soil health and productivity depend on soil nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K). Most farmers are not able to select the crop according to soil factors, such as mineral composition, soil pH, soil texture, etc. Farmers are also unaware of organic fertilizer per their soil requirement for improving crop productivity. Inadequate and imbalanced fertilization lead to soil degradation, resulting in nutrient mining. This study finds a solution by proposing a recommendation system based on soil nutrients using an ensemble model with high accuracy and efficiency. Organic farming is not yet very popular with the farmers in India, so the government is encouraging organic farming by providing subsidies to the farmers for its implementation. The second approach is based on providing information about nuclear technology in the agricultural sector, which will help to improve soil fertility and crop yield while minimizing ecological collisions. In India, farmers are not much aware of scientific studies and research on nuclear technology that helps to improve soil fertility and repel pests. This study provides adequate information about nuclear technology to create awareness among farmers that the use of this technology is not limited to producing electricity but can also be used in agriculture to increase productivity.