Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview of the Study

The Philippines had been affected by global warming through El Niño since the late 1950s according
to de Guzman [1] in her presentation in Impacts of Drought in the Philippines. According to
PAGASA’s Philippine – Mindanao: Impact of El Niño Assessment for the year 2015 and 2016, it was
throughout the months of December 2015, January, February, March, April, and May 2016 that the
worst effects of drought was felt by the country throughout the recorded history by the absence of
rain and presence of the scorching heat of the sun. This phenomenon brought reduced stream flow
and declined ground water level that leaf to insufficient water for domestic use. Power generation,
water irrigation and total crop loss causing the yield of farmers to reduce to a significant percentage
because vegetative growth of crops had been disturbed [1].

Forty eight of Philippines total population has land farming for a living [2]. Food produced by
means of crop agriculture is vital for life and living of Filipinos; and because of this inevitable effect
of global warming, food security for all countrymen was threatened. Water on the other hand is very
essential in agricultural production. The growth of plants depends hugely to water and the quality of
water distributed among plants through irrigation is necessary in determining the quality and
quantity of yield produced.

Near about fifty percent of total cultivated area in the Philippines is under irrigation and the
remaining fifty percent depends upon the rain [2]. According to Nathaniel Cruz in his journal on
Climate Change Impacts and Responses in the Philippines :Water Sources, the country’s climate is
influenced by large-scale atmospheric phenomena that bring in large amounts of rains all year
round. However, due to the uneven distribution of rain with respect to time and space the
occurrences of extreme events such as floods and droughts, the country’s water resources have
experienced imbalances in supply and demand in the past.

Irrigating through the traditional way requires a lot of water which only at an average of 16%
penetrates at the root zone [4]. To irrigate properly using the least amount of water without
compromising water quality, determining relationship of the type of soil and amount of water
requirement are essential.

One way to address these issues and increase the quality and quantity of agricultural
production is using sensing technology to make farms more intelligent and more connected through
the so-called precision agriculture also known as `smart farming’ [5].

The Intelligent Water Irrigation System also known as smart irrigation using real time
feedback system is already been used and proven to be effective in arid and semi-arid countries such
as India, Rwanda, Haiti and Israel to name a few but still not available in the Philippines. One Factor
of this is the variety of the type of soil the land area of the country has that differs topographically
[2].
1.2 Statement of the Problem

Agriculture in the Philippines being climate dependent still uses traditional method of water
irrigation [4]. According to Parmod Kumar’s abstract, in his paper Intelligent Drip Irrigation System
through Moisture Sensors, when farmers irrigate their field, there is an absence of idea on how long
the motor pump should be turned on to let water flow in the field leading to uneven water
distribution, lack of data on soil moisture maintenance and crop water requirements of different
crops that lead to 60% water volume waste.

Since the effect of global warming through El Niño is unstoppable, the study focuses on Smart
Water Irrigation System that uses Real Time Clock Technology which is very timely in the Philippines’
present climactic situation. This technology focuses on effective water irrigation system ensuring
that water is quantifiably distributed on the right time and uniformly by means of soil moisture
sensors guaranteeing that plants will be supplied with only the water it needs, with its field capacity
requirements. With this, farmers can reduce the amount of water needed for plant growth and can
cope up with the available quantity of water from their water source, behold the problems of water
availability.

1.3 Objective of the Study

The main goal of the study is to develop a Smart Irrigation technology that automates the
maintenance of soil’s moisture according to crop’s water requirements this is suitable for Philippines
setting. The main objectives are broken down into specifics:
1. To characterize effective automation in a smart water irrigation system that considers the
field capacity for loam and sandy types of soil;
2. To achieve appropriate soil moisture content in the plants’ root zone; and
3. To develop effective smart irrigation system using Real Time Clock.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The general purpose of the study is to provide Filipino farmers with a suitable option in case the
inevitable effects of El Niño will hit the country. This is also to reduce the significant decrease of
their yield in times of scarcity of water and will not compromise the water quality in their plants that
greatly affects the vegetative growth.

The output of this study can also help increase labor productivity among Filipino farmers since
technology in watering their crop eliminates the manual operation of traditional water irrigation. It
will also increase the possibility to change the rate of irrigation processes and to enhance these
methods. Importantly, better efficiency in uniform water distribution will certainly be achieved since
irrigation process starts and stops exactly when required.

1.5 Scope

Its scope of Automation design and implementation only comprises of surface and ground water
sources as water source, loam and sandy loam soil as type of soils were considered in this
research in which is are the most common among Filipino farms [4].

1.6 Limitations
This study is experimental and thus its prototype will be operated in small- scale within
University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines – Main Campus premises. Also, the
system shall use drip of tickle irrigation method since this method is found effective in hot
tropical countries [5].