Detecting Fertilizer Adulteration using Smartphone Technology (ST) and Digital Image Processing (DIP): A Study

Firoz Sarkar

Abstract: Smartphone technology (ST) and Digital Image Processing (DIP) have changed the lifestyle and business models in all sectors including agriculture. Researchers are taking an interest in applying ST and DIP in the agriculture sector to make production efficient, effective, and low-cost. One of the important factors for improved agriculture production is the pure and appropriate use of different fertilizers. Unfortunately, In Bangladesh, fertilizers are being adulterated during the distribution process. In this research, Color image histogram analysis and different statistical features like Average Intensity, Average Contrast, Smoothness, Third Moment, Uniformity, and Entropy of DIP have been used to detect adulterated fertilizer using a Smartphone camera at the farmer level while buying. Above properties are computed both for pure and adulterated fertilizers for comparison using MATLAB software. By the results of our research, we can easily identify pure and adulterated fertilizers which are quite similar to lab tests.

Keywords: Smartphone Technology, Digital Image Processing, Color Histogram, Statistical Feature of Image