THE CROSS ROAD: Where Technology meets Agriculture || Where Adeayo meets Steemit!

Hey there esteemed readers and teachers, it is wonderful to be here (feels like home). Being a lazy guy, I’ve been busy walking around, going through several blogs to gain some knowledge and I can’t just explain how much that has helped me in accessing new information. It’s high time I worked on mine also.

Steemit is a platform where everyone rises up by lifting others and just as the bill of ‘not too young to rule’ was recently passed in my country, I think that bill should be extended into other spheres of life such as-not too young to lead, explore, teach and learn! If you have the feeling you’re too young to contribute, then in a blink of an eye, you’ll be too old to open your eyelids.

Steemit sounds more like steam heat (that’s if I’m correct); Steam having some reasonable heat within it nthat can be harnessed for mechanical work. Thinking and visualizing the words; steam, is the vapour form of water when heated - ice and liquid water being the other forms. We can take this water vapor as being restless, wanting to ease pressure and temperature it has accumulated. You liken that to knowledge - when some level of it is obtained, you won’t feel comfortable in your cold liquid state rather, you want to put this useful energy has to put into good use; experimenting and teaching others.

Pardon my manners, I have said much without introducing myself. I am Adewumi Adeayo, a recent graduate of Agricultural Engineering from a prestigious University in my evergreen country, Nigeria. Mechanized agriculture is a passion and backed up with experiences gathered while in school; Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, the International Institute of Agriculture (IITA) and the National Center of Agricultural Mechanisation, Ilorin all in Nigeria (NCAM), I feel humbled in sharing what I’ve learnt and still learning.

Basically, my focus will be on write-ups based on the application of engineering principles into agriculture. You will feel ‘this guy is getting himself into some real mess here because agriculture is a respectable wide subject to talk about, let alone the technicality associated with engineering discipline and technology’. Don’t be scared, we’ve come here to learn, and well do it bit by bit.

For us to be self-sufficient in food production and create sustainable agriculture, we humans need some extra help in terms of machines and machinery from land preparation to harvesting, processing and development of structures for livestock to enhance productivity. You can’t relegate or deem intangible the invaluable importance of Agricultural engineers in making life comfortable for not only farmers but plants and animals while catering for the depleting environment.

According to a United Nations report, over 80% of food is produced in the rural communities by local farmer in the Sub-Sahara Africa and Asia using crude implements such as hoes and cutlass. This type of Agricultural system isn’t enough to sustain the teeming population and with the advent rural-urban migration where everyone wants to be in the city, we realise that those producing the food are tired of the ravaging poverty and the negative conditions in which they find themselves in the rural setting.

Agriculture (farming) now seems to be punishment instead of a guiding light to prosperity. The aim of agricultural engineers is to identify the problems facing the agricultural sector, work with other stakeholders constructively, undergo some thorough research and profer adequate solutions which will enhance productivity and reduce the risk of agriculture.

Solutions can be in form of farm Mechanisation which involves modeling, the use of various equipment ranging from manual, mechanical and electrically operated machines to ease land preparation, planting operations and harvesting operations. The tractor being the most common machine used for agricultural purpose and recent ones are being equipped with computer vision for precision control. An example is the accurate mechanical weeding machine for both inter and between row weeding. Crop protective measures and equipment such as the knapsack and boom sprayers to prevent insect, weed infestation, and diseases.

Agricultural engineers identify soil-water-plant relationship with the help of geotechnical surveys and geospatial technologies, research into field capacities of soil types, wilting point of crops, crops demand for moisture to design various irrigation and drainage systems for optimum productivity.

You would assume agricultural engineers shouldn’t have any business with post-harvest operations but contrary to that, we don’t stop at the point of harvest - we can’t leave those precious agricultural produce to rot! There is still a wonderful trip moving forward to avoid deterioration and value addition to agricultural produce. Crops are classified into perishable and non-perishable depending on the rate at which the crop deteriorates after harvest. Processing and storage is of utmost importance to prevent wastage. @sogless has been doing some fantastic write-ups on post-harvest engineering nad I'll advice you to read his posts about them.

Interestingly, agricultural engineers put into several factors such as safety, ergonomics, economics, suitable material for construction and most importantly, the properties of the crop or livestock under consideration before designing machines and equipment

Areas of interest of Agricultural Engineers are summarized in,

• Farm power and machinery
• Soil and water conservation engineering
• Farm structures and environmental engineering
• Food engineering
• Farm electrification and rural development
• Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
• Crop processing and storage engineering
• Other emerging technologies related to agriculture

So, fasten your seatbelt and let’s enjoy this ride down the road where technology meets agriculture and where Adeayo meets steemit. Thanks for taking your time to read through this article. I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction. I can’t wait for your response in the comment section! Special thanks to @temitayo-pelumi and @mrbreeziewrites for introducing me to steemit and putting me through with the writeup.