An IoT-Based Controlled Environment Storage for Prevention of Spoilage of Onion (Allium Cepa) During Post-Harvest with UV-C Disinfection

Abstract

India is the second largest producer of onions in the world, contributing over 26 million tonnes annually. However, during storage, approximately 30-40% of onions are lost due to rotting, sprouting, and weight loss. Despite being a major producer, conventional storage methods are either low-cost but ineffective (traditional storage with 40% spoilage) or highly effective but prohibitively expensive for small farmers (cold storage). This paper presents a low-cost IoT-based smart onion storage system that monitors and automatically regulates environmental parameters including temperature, humidity, and spoilage gases using ESP32 microcontroller, DHT22 sensor, MQ-135 gas sensor, and UV-C disinfection technology. The proposed system aims to reduce onion spoilage to 15-20% from the current 40-45% wastage rate while remaining affordable for small and marginal farmers who constitute the majority in India. The system is designed to be cost-effective (estimated 60k-70k INR), energy-efficient, farmer-friendly, and solar-powered.