Three faculty members of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) have come up with a Portable Agriculture Network System to help banana farmers suffering losses owing to heavy winds.
Their patent application has found place in the Patent Office Journal dated May 24 under section 11 A of the Indian Patents Act, 1970. It is now open to the public for their comments.
The faculty members are Santosh Kumar M.B., Department of Information Technology, School of Engineering; B. Kannan, Department of Computer Applications; and N. Sunilkumar of Cochin University College of Engineering, Kuttanad.
“India is the largest producer of banana in the world. But several banana plants get destroyed due to heavy winds resulting in huge loss for the farmers. The traditional methods like pole and tag are costly and they are not reliable in case of wind coming from different directions,” said Dr. Santosh.
“Our design is cost-effective, environment-friendly, portable and durable for addressing this problem. It was designed after exhaustive study of weather and soil condition, wind speed, etc. It will protect banana plants from falling in heavy winds,” he said. The faculty members said that the strength and durability of various banana fibres were also considered while designing the system.