www.IndianJournals.com Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale Downloaded From IP - 14.139.224.82 on dated 27-Oct-2011 printed in india 99 Unrealized Potential of Sensor in Precision Agriculture IJAEB: 4(1) March 2011 (Page 99-102) Unrealized Potential of Sensor in Precision Agriculture Anupam Das, Amitava Rakshit and Hanuman Prasad Parewa Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agricultural Science, Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh Email: amitavabhu@gmail.com Received: 20 th January, 2011 Accepted:16 th February, 2011 Abstract Present day agriculture needs sophistication that can improve production efficiency, product quality, post harvest operations, and reduce their environmental impact. New agricultural practices have been focused on an economical and environmental point of view. Current agriculture demands continuous in-situ information of soil physical and chemical parameters which include use of ground based sensor for rapid assessment. In this way effects have been geared up for fulfilling the objective of sustainable agriculture optimizing economical cot and minimizing environmental impact. Keywords: Environment,Sensor, Precision, Agriculture Gravity of the problem In recent years, worldwide natural and population event share dramatically increasing the pressures on arable farming. The projected growth in world population is likely to be 9.3 billion by 2050. Such figures are exacerbated by population demographics in the increasingly prosperous developing nations, like ours. The wealth generation in the urban regions causing an economic migration away from near subsistence level farming and into the cities. The demands placed on agriculture in feeding a growing populace, the competition for resources is having a negative impact on conventional farming practices. Another related factor is climate change which is giving rise to more arid environments in some of the world’s most important farming areas. Even in places which are not forecast to see a reduction in rainfall are not immune, as the unpredictable nature of the weather in intensively farmed areas means that harvesting cannot be routinely scheduled and may be an cancelled altogether if saturated soils prevent farm machinery being deployed. A further secondary effect of climate change is the variability in crop pathogen occurrence and disease spread. Sensor Science- Viable option The ever increasing access to information on the move, from a combination of low-cost electronics, wireless telemetry and novel sensor science, has already changed the way we shop for goods, travel around, communicate with colleagues or spend our leisure time. This revolution is set to continue apace as micro- and nano-engineering are merged with information science and inexpensive printable plastic semiconductors. These changes have been catalysed by a number of circumstances which are mostly unrelated to the agricultural sector. ‘Enhanced-911’ is one example of phone capability which embeds a new generation of low cost GPS receivers within mobile phone handset to pinpoint the location of a call made to the emergency services. Such systems are rapidly increasing the availability of cost effective wireless enabled positioning technology that may act as a platform for sensing systems. Current agriculture demands continuous in-situ information of soil physical and chemical parameters, such as macro- and micronutrients, owing to modulation of the amounts of fertilizers to be added. The most promising analytical instrumentation developed belongs to the sensor field. In recent years, instrumentation based on direct contact or remote sensing performed in close proximity to the crop has been introduced. Farmers Column