Enhancing Cucumber Crop Management in South Sudan through an NB-IoT-Enabled Greenhouse Monitoring System

The Republic of South Sudan, having emerged from decades of civil unrest, continues to struggle with an underdeveloped agricultural sector. Food production remains predominantly dependent on unpredictable weather conditions, resulting in low yields and an increasing reliance on imported agricultural products. To reduce this dependency and improve food self-sufficiency, it is critical to modernize the country’s farming practices. One promising approach is greenhouse agriculture, which can provide a controlled environment to mitigate the negative effects of climatic extremes such as droughts and heavy rains. This study presents the development and deployment of a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT)-enabled greenhouse monitoring system specifically tailored for cucumber crop management in small to medium-scale farming settings in South Sudan. The proposed system monitors key environmental parameters, including temperature, humidity, and soil moisture, and transmits this data via NB-IoT to a cloud-based platform. Farmers can access this data remotely through a user-friendly web interface and control essential greenhouse components such as water pumps and cooling fans in real time. Field tests confirm that the system performs reliably, ensuring continuous data acquisition and accurate environmental regulation. By enabling remote monitoring and control, this NB-IoT solution enhances precision agriculture, optimizes crop conditions, and supports informed decision-making. Moreover, it reduces labor demands, minimizes resource wastage, and contributes to increased crop yields and farm income. Overall, this paper demonstrates the potential of NB-IoT technologies to revolutionize cucumber farming in South Sudan and pave the way for sustainable, climate-resilient agriculture across the region.