DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR PRECISION FARMING

A decision support system for precision farming is designed to assist farmers, agricultural experts, research workers or any intellectuals with guidance in making various farming related decisions and help them to access, display and analyze data that have geographic content and meaning. The concept of precision farming is not only related with the use of technologies but it is also about the five R’s that is use of right input (nutrients, water, fertilizer, money, machinery etc.), at the right time, at the right place, in the right amount and in the right manner. There is need to have accurate information and suitable decisions regarding the right inputs required for the farming practices and to initiate the step towards the precision farming. DSS calculates irrigation requirement of crops. In this paper, Maps that are shown generated with the help of ArcGIS software (ArcMap tool). The system has been developed using Hypertext Pre Processor (PHP) at front end and MySQL at back end.


RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The objective set for the project was to design and develop a decision support system for precision farming so that farmers, agricultural experts, research workers or any other person can take interactive, flexible and quick decisions. The proposed s ystem is developed to implement using PHP at front end and MySQL at back end. The development of decision support system for precision farming requires the comprehensive backup from database about basic resources being used in agriculture. There cannot be any further precision in agriculture without the availability of database pertaining to the variability in soil, types of crops, important commodities handled, land holding patterns and classification, quality of underground water available, category of blocks according to geographic and climatic characteristics, irrigation requirement of crops under standard conditions or other factors associated with different aspects of agricultural production system. Precision Farming involves advance decision making at agricultural expert level as well as at farmer level.
At agricultural expert level, the development of decision support system for precision farming fulfils the requirements of the farmer which are based on accurate information and suitable decisions regarding the right inputs required for the farming practices and to initiate the step towards precision farming. This aim can be achieved by understanding the variations in the input. Precision farming requires the information tool like GIS to assess and understand the field variations. The generation of maps for crop and soil properties is the most important activity in precision farming. The collected data may be used to evaluate estimation of input factors (water, nutrients, fertilizers, machinery, money etc.). The agricultural expert can take following decisions: Decision regarding the estimation of fertilizer requirement can be taken from fertilizer requirement estimation category. Information regarding the type of land (e.g. good cultivated land) can be seen in land analysis. This decision is helpful in the case when agricultural experts want to increase the yield of particular crop by using the concept of precision farming.
Decision regarding the net return income (per acre per year) of different farmers (farmers are divided into five categories i.e. marginal farmer, small farmer, semi-medium farmer, medium farmer, large farmer) of blocks can be taken from socio economic analysis.
Decision regarding availability of machinery in blocks can be taken from machinery analysis. Decision regarding the right nutrient requirement in a particular block can be taken from soil characteristics analysis.  At farmer level, decision support system is computerized system for making decisions. The farmer can get information at click of the mouse. They need not to travel to Agricultural Universities for that. The process of information analysis can enable farmers to understand their business more specifically. Under different situations suitable decisions can be taken, few are explained below: The decision support system precisely calculates the water required for the irrigation of crops under different climatic conditions with respective to different locations of Punjab state.
After using the decision support system, farmer can get the information regarding good or bad underground water availability in particular block of district Firozpur.
General analysis explains type of area i.e. whether a particular block is flood prone area, cotton belt area or alkaline area. Famer can have brief information of particular block by selecting the location in the options available. The system will show the results in the tabular form. Fig 1 shows the information regarding the Abohar block. w w w . i j c t o n l i n e . c o m

Fig 4: Information of Selected block
DSS is more helpful for the farmers who belong to different districts of Punjab (other than Firozpur) and want to have their own agricultural land for farming practices in district Firozpur but don't have any idea or information about the land, infrastructure, soil, crops, location, socio economic net income of farmers etc. of different blocks of district Firozpur.
Farmer or agricultural expert can check or find whether the soil of particular block is nutrient deficient or not and which type of nutrient is required for the soil of that block.
Research workers or experts can access the right information to aid the process of precision farming. E.g. the area of American cotton crop in Abohar block is more than other blocks of district Firozpur.
Farmer can find the estimation for the fertilizer requirement (N, P, and K) in particular block of district Firozpur. Decision support system for precision farming determines the type of soil whether it is alkaline or normal and quality of alluvial soil (Light-Medium or Medium-High). For E.g. Alkaline soil is soil with pH higher than 7.0. A soil with pH 7.5 or more decreases the chances of good plant growth. Areas that receive less than 20 inches of rain per year are usually alkaline.
DSS is also concerned with which types of crop can be grown in different blocks of district Firozpur. Though widely adopted in developed countries, the adoption of precision farming in India is yet to take a firm ground primarily due to its unique pattern of land holdings, poor infrastructure, and lack of farmers' inclination to take addition onus of management including socio-economic conditions. That's why the decision support system for precision farming is developed to understand the variations which are explained with the help of maps.
The most important for any proposed precision agricultural model is its own sustainability. This is possible only if it requires special tools and resources like decision support systems to prescribe the most appropriate management strategy to increase the productive efficiency