Intelligent water and fertilizer integration apparatus with mobile phone remote automatic control system for agricultural irrigation main buyer country

When you hear aboutintelligent water and fertilizer integration apparatus, the first thing that comes to mind is beautiful presentations with perfect graphs. But in practice in Kazakhstan, our main market, everything depends on three things: the stability of communications in the steppe, the quality of water and... the habits of agronomists. Many still believe that the “old-fashioned method” more reliable.

Why Kazakhstan? Unobvious nuances of work

In 2022, Shandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology LLC and I installed a system in the Kostanay region. The customer wanted to control the irrigation of 500 hectares from his phone - it sounds simple. But local wells produced water with a high iron content. We had to modify the filters - the standard ones clogged within a week.

Interestingly, Kazakh farmers were initially skeptical aboutremote automatic control. Until we saw how you can simultaneously launch irrigation in three areas while being in Astana at a meeting. This convinced me better than any specifications.

Speaking of mobile controls, we tested three different apps. It turned out that in remote areas, not the most modern versions work more stably - they are less demanding on Internet speed. Sometimes progress lies in clever reversion to simple solutions.

Technical pitfalls: what brochures don’t say

Ourintelligent water and fertilizer integration apparatusthe basic configuration did not take into account one important point - power surges in rural networks. After two burned-out controllers, we had to develop individual stabilizers. Now this is the standard for supplies to Kazakhstan.

Another story with humidity sensors. The soil sensors worked great in demo mode, but in real fields they were chewed up by gophers. I had to enter into a contract with a local company for the production of metal casings - such nuances are not in the textbooks.

Systemremote control via mobile phoneSometimes it fails not because of technology, but because of the human factor. One of the operators regularly forgot to change the password - as a result, unauthorized people gained access. We now provide mandatory cybersecurity training to clients.

Case: what was considered a failure became an advantage

Last year, a curious incident occurred in the North Kazakhstan region. Due to an error in the settings, our device gave out a double dose of fertilizer. Fortunately, the monitoring system immediately showed an anomaly, and it was possible to stop the process.

After this incident, we revised the alert logic. Now, in case of any deviation from the norm, SMS messages are sent to the phones of the five responsible persons - even if it is a false positive. Better to play it safe.

Interestingly, this failure ultimately led to a new order. The client appreciated that the system did not hide the error, but loudly announced it. In agriculture, honesty is sometimes more valuable than perfect performance.

Adaptation to local conditions: more than just installation

When we first started working throughhttps://www.lyzhihuinongye.ru, we thought that the main thing was the technical characteristics. It turned out that compatibility with existing infrastructure is critically important in Kazakhstan. Many farms still use Soviet irrigation systems.

We had to develop transition modules - something that is not in the catalogs of Shandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology LLC. Now these adapters have become a separate line of business.

Winter temperatures down to -40°C are another challenge. Standard pipe insulation did not hold up. After several frosts, together with Kazakh engineers, they created a heating system for critical components - a simple but effective solution.

What's next? Observations on the evolution of demand

Now I see how attitudes towardsremote automatic control system. If earlier they asked for “the simplest thing?”, now the requests are becoming more and more complex - they want integration with weather stations, forecasting based on AI.

An interesting trend is that small farms are starting to unite to purchase one set of equipment for several plots. This requires the development of new licensing models.

The main conclusion from three years of work: technology should not replace the agronomist, but strengthen him. The most successful projects - whereintelligent water and fertilizer integration apparatushas become a tool in the hands of an experienced specialist, and not a complete automatic machine. Perhaps this is the right way.