Although irrigation has the potential to boost agricultural productivity, most crop farmers in Africa, especially West Africa, depend on seasonal rainfall to foster the growth of farm produce. Farmers get disappointed when rain fails to fall as expected. Drought and other types of unfavorable weather conditions post risk for farmers. Those who plant before expected rainy-months lose their seeds to the unviable soil which lacks enough moisture while those who wait for rain before they plant do nothing at all during the calendar year.
Employing irrigation system means the farmer gets to grow crops on consistent level to creating more reliable food supply. Employing irrigation also means productivity will automatically result to an increased income and an increased livestock, depending on the market prices.
As part of efforts to educating people about irrigation in this technologically growing world, and to advance from manual irrigation system which involves manual labour, watering cans and pumps with water holes to modern trends, the Robotic Club within the Science and Technical Department of Sekyeredumase Senior High Technical School has Launched a project on programmable Irrigation System. This programme seeks to replace the system that consumes a lot of time, fuel and exert more pressure on crops to a system that does not necessarily demands the farmer or the caretaker to be on the farm before it works.
The Programmable Irrigation System is made up of solar powered automated irrigation flow with soil moisture sensor which automatically irrigates the field when the soil is dry and stops when the soil is adequately moist. The system is backed with a solar panel with backup batteries which makes the system usable at any where and any time.
