We are both students at "Aurel Vlaicu" University in Arad, Romania. The domain we study is Automatics and Applied Software within the Engineering department and we are very enthusiastic about making a difference in this world using our skills in engineering and software development.
What problem are you trying to solve?
One of the problems facing third world countries is the lack of food. Hunger is the cause of many other problems that lead to diseases and even death. Unfortunately, in the 21st century there are people out there who struggle to get any food and starve, but don't have the necessary means to do something about it.
The biggest problem that leads to hunger is drought. Soils can't be cultivated to grow crops to serve as food. The best soils were used for growing crops for export like coffee, sugar cane, cocoa and other "cash" crops, in hope that this will solve the financial problem. Major government funds were invested to develop this land for export crops and the production for food for the majority was neglected. After the harvest the soil was left bare and unprotected which lead to accelerated erosion. Now, these lands are unusable for growing crops. As more land was cultivated with these crops, and only the best, the locals were pushed onto marginal lands with poor rainfall, decreasing their possibility to produce food.
There are many factors that impede growing crops on the rest of the soils. For desert soils to be productive, irrigation is an important factor. Some might have salinity or alkalinity in excess, which must be reduced.
Many factors influence the climate of African continent: most of it lies within the tropics, the sea influence extends in southern Africa, a subtropical high-pressure cell, and known as the Saharan anticyclone develops in the middle of northern Africa. Finally, the high mountains have climatic zones of their own that vary with altitude. There are also numerous local variations from place to place within the same climatic zone. Crops need stable and well studied external factors in order to grow healthy and produce food, but unfortunately in Africa this can't be done with today soil and climatic conditions.
What is your proposed solution to the problem?
We thought that a possible solution for this problem might be the construction of greenhouses where can be created proper environment for crops. Greenhouses allow controlling the growing environment within the walls so that you can grow whatever type of plants. Each plant requires special and different treatment, some require full sun, less sun, lots of water or only little bit of water. With the help of technology this conditions can be simulated and created easily and plants can grow healthy.
A good reason for constructing a green house is that the seasons can be extended. Greenhouses protect the plants from outside bugs and diseases and most importantly from ever changing weather.
This might solve the climatic and soil problems of Africa and lead to a good production of crops for the locals. In this way there won't be any people starving in the century of technology.
This can be done with some temperature, humidity and light sensors, placed in the greenhouse, that always measure the parameters in the greenhouse and that assure that the perfect conditions are created for that type of plants. After the device measures the physical quantity, it's converted into a signal for the e-Box. This computer plays an important role because it simulates the conditions
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