RFID-enabled smart irrigation framework for smallholder farmers resource allocation in cluster farming

African farmers are challenged with climate change, lack of access to credit facilities and inability to afford modern agricultural technologies among others. As a result, they often come together in cluster to own and share resources such as irrigation facilities, and they can produce more while sharing the cost of the facilities. However, conflicts do arise because there is no proper record of activities regarding the use of such resources. To address this challenge, this study proposes an automated (smart) irrigation system for seamless administration of water resources in cluster farming. It uses radio frequency identity (RFID) to screen out unauthorized users of the irrigation facility and allocates water to authorized users’ farms based on the volume allocated to them. It also ensures that water flow is automatically shut down once the allocated volume of water is delivered. The developed system employs a microcontroller and web-based technologies to track the farmer’s identity, the date as well as the time of irrigation and the amount of water dispensed in litres to the different farms within the cluster, while making these pieces of information available to an irrigation system administrator through secured web portals. This will encourage accountability, transparency, and ease of cost-sharing in the administration of cluster farming. It has a high potential to add value to the growth and proper management of cluster farming in Africa.