Agriculture is "the backbone of the Indian economy". In 2012–13, agriculture contributed to 13.9% of the total GDP and employed 47% of the total workforce population. Due to the increasing population, basic needs such as food and water are increasing day by day. Thus, it is substantial to save these resources and utilise them in an efficient manner. Since water is one of the most important elements in our daily lives, we must adapt to efficient ways of utilising it and saving it for future generations. One of these methods is efficient irrigation management practises for fields. Irrigation water management practises could greatly benefit from knowing the amount of moisture in the soil. By knowing the moisture value, we can estimate when and how much to water the fields so that there is no over-watering or wilting of crops. Water-holding capacity varies from soil to soil. Moreover, different varieties of crop require different amounts of water for optimum growth.

Rajul S. Patkar (2016) has developed low-cost piezoresistive cantilever platforms for agricultural applications as a part of her Ph.D. thesis at IIT Bombay under Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao and Prof. M.S. Bagini. Through this project, I aim to design a low-cost soil moisture sensor by utilising proposed sensor-based technology developed at the electrical department of IIT Bombay for small and medium-scale farmers that helps them provide optimum irrigation for crops and thereby increase productivity.