The Development of Prototype Control System via Microcontroller for the Cultivation of Organic in Greenhouse for Elderly Farmers: A Case Study Kham-Nam-Saep, Warin-Chamrap District Ubon Ratchathani Province

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to: 1) Study the knowledge and understanding of the control system via Microcontroller for the cultivation of vegetables in greenhouses, 2) develop a prototype control system via Microcontroller for the cultivation of greenhouse, and 3) evaluate satisfaction for using systems. The sample was 20 farmers over 60 years old in Kham-Nam-Saep, Warin-Chamrap District, Ubon Ratchathani Province. The research instruments were 1) prototype of the system
2) semi-structured interview; 3) questionnaire. The result found that 1) the elderly farmers had knowledge and understanding of the automatic control system for growing vegetables in the greenhouses is little ( = 2.32) and the need for the automatic control system is high ( = 3.42) 2) The prototype development results show that the system can control the watering timer.
The system will send a signal to open the vegetable water pump for the house for 30 minutes or when the humidity is lower than specified. Temperature and humidity monitoring by microcontroller set with temperature and humidity sensor can be displayed on the LCD screen, smartphone and send data to store in SD card Module. The satisfaction of the elderly towards the system found that the highest average score was greenhouse was at a high level ( = 4.70). The system reduces labor use for elderly farmers.