Development of an automated water management system in orchards in southern Thailand

Traditional agriculture-based orchards often encounter quality problems that do not meet the market demand. Technology development is required for increasing the quality of the production and reducing the production costs. The objective of this research is to develop an automated water management system to improve production in orchards and implementing them in the field. The proposed water management system contains the equipment for water supply systems, automatic measurement, and control systems. The system was developed first inside a demonstration fruit garden. Afterward, a set of water management systems was installed in the mangosteen and durian gardens of farmers, and the system was controlled via mobile phones. The results are promising and showed that the proposed system might be useful for reducing production costs by reducing labor, water, and electricity costs. Moreover, the farmers were able to produce a higher amount of quality products in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province.