Abstract
The cultivation of maize round the year is a great challenge to both subsistence and mechanized farmers in Abia State owing to the changes in climatic conditions especially precipitation, relative humidity, and temperature during the two traditional seasons, which affect the growth and yield of the cereal crop. This paper is the first of a two-part study aimed to evolving an internet-based remote monitoring and messaging system for farmers in the Umueze-Umuchi communities and other connected areas in Osisioma Ngwa Local Government of Abia State to enable monitoring of vital climatic conditions that are much likely to affect their maize farms during the dry season. This study is descriptive and presents succinct information on maize cultivation in the communities with recourse to topography, relief and drainage, climate, soil and vegetation of the area. Data were collected through observation and interview of selected farmers. The vital atmospheric conditions required for maize farming such as temperature, vapour pressure, and relative humidity were noted to vary during the seasons: rainy and dry seasons, respectively. Data from farmers showed that maize cultivation begins in early march following early rainfall and actively ends around June when the volume of precipitation is at its peak. No maize cultivation is done during the dry season beginning from early November owing to low precipitation regardless of the presence of the Aba River across these communities. Consequent upon the findings, the authors are led to examining the option of all year-round maize cultivation aided by an internet of things (IoT)-enabled climate monitoring system in order to boost maize production in the aforementioned communities. It is submitted that the use of the monitoring device will enable the farmer know when to complement the adverse climatic conditions during the dry season thereby enhancing maize cultivation round the year. Key words: Osisioma Ngwa, Abia State, maize farming, internet of things (IoT), food production, climate monitoring system.
Highlights
Research has shown that Africa faces great challenges in the production of cereal crops of which Maize is the largest (Macauley and Ramadjita, 2015)
The cultivation of maize round the year is a great challenge to both subsistence and mechanized farmers in Abia State owing to the changes in climatic conditions especially precipitation, relative humidity, and temperature during the two traditional seasons, which affect the growth and yield of the cereal crop
From the data gathered through field measurements and farmers‟ submissions, this study discovered farmers value a system that can provide real-time information on the climatic conditions of their farmlands having regard that maize cultivation is affected by a good number of climatic factors such as temperature, relative humidity, precipitation amongst others
Summary
Research has shown that Africa faces great challenges in the production of cereal crops of which Maize is the largest (Macauley and Ramadjita, 2015). This is against the backdrop that maize forms the highest percentage of calorie intake in the national diet of 22 countries of the world, sixteen of which are domiciled in Africa (Blein, 2013). Maize is adjudged the most important cereal crop (Badmus and Ariyo, 2011) in the world after wheat and rice with regard to cultivation areas and total production (Osagie and Eka, 1998; Purseglove, 1972). It is estimated that 48.3% of all households in Nigeria (NBS, 2016) cultivate maize crop
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