Paper ID: 5
SEMAR SANDY-APP: IRRIGATION SYSTEM FOR SANDY SOIL BASED ON ANDROID APPLICATION
Authorship
Imam Arifin, Aktavia Herawati, Mujiyo, Sumani, Hery Widijanto
Soil Science Department, Universitas Sebelas Maret
Jl. Ir. Sutami 36 A, Kentingan, Surakarta, 57126, Indonesia
imamarifin_05@student.uns.ac.id
Abstract
Indonesia’s population increase leads to the increase in food needs. The increasing need for food requires national food security ensurement. However, in achieving food security, the country faces the problem of agricultural land diminishing. Consequently, we need suboptimal land use that can serve a solution for land depreciation. Sandy soil is one of the sub-optimal land that can be used for agricultural cultivation. Sandy soils have low water holding capacity, high infiltration and high run off. The low of water-holding capacity will impact in decrease of soil moisture. Whereas, soil moisture content is a very important factor in plant growth. Accordingly, we need an alternative solution to solve the problem. One of technology used in agriculture is an application developed irrigation system. The purpose of this research was to develop an effective irrigation system design for sandy soil. Semar Sandy-App is a monitoring system as well as a system that provides direct supply water in the plant root zone. The system uses subsurface irrigation through drip irrigation with perforated pipes then water comes out of the hole to wet the soil in plant root zone. This system can be a solution to optimize sandy soil through efficiency and effective in providing water to plants. In addition, the system can control and monitor the plant water requirements through the use of a microcontroler that is connected directly to the android system in smartphones. Through this system, which can be done by field testing in advance, it is expected to increase agricultural productivity so that it can support the availability of food for the community.