**3. Design consideration**

#### **3.1 Environmental consideration**

The climate is primarily subtropical in most of the KZN sugarcane production districts, with typical annual temperatures ranging from 21°C along the coast to 16°C inland [9]. In the summer, however, because to the high humidity, these temperatures can approach 30°C. The yearly rainfall gradient varies as the distance from the shore increases, although it is consistently high, ranging from 25 mm to 1059 mm each year. The Indian Ocean anticyclones, which control the airflow spreading through the region from the Indian Ocean, have an impact on the climate. Because of the abundance of undulating terrains in the region, the climate varies by location, making it suitable for sugarcane production, which dominates the region [10] Dystric regosols and rhodic acrisols are the most frequent soil types in the KZN region of concern, with rhodic soils covering the majority of the area. Sugarcane farming in KZN is further aided by the rhodic soils, which give essential nutrients. As a result, the majority of sugarcane fields are located in locations with rhodic soils [9]. The majority of the sugarcane agricultural regions in KZN are wetlands [11]. As a result, all of these geographic and climatic circumstances must be addressed while designing in order for the design to fulfill its function, which is to solve the challenge outlined in Section 1. Because the rainfall season in KZN is from October to April, the design must be able to perform in wet conditions. Given the annual average wind speed of 15 m/s in KZN, the design must be able to resist the wind speed and its weight must be at least 15 kg [12]. The majority of sugarcane producing areas in KZN have undulating topography, which must be factored into the pest monitoring equipment design.

#### **3.2 Design cost**

Another factor to consider is the cost of the pest monitoring system; if the device is more expensive than the losses produced by the insect in sugar, a farmer may decide that purchasing the gadget is unnecessary, and so demand for the design will be minimal. This enables the designer to select low-cost design components and materials, as well as low-cost manufacturing methods, lowering the device's cost and making it more accessible to all South African farmers. Only in KZN was study conducted to calculate the annual net income per hectare for sugarcane in three regions: the Midlands, the Coast, and the Northern region. **Figure 2** shows that in the worst-case scenario, a small-scale farmer with 30 hectares of sugarcane will earn R899 880 per year in the Coastal region, R1 002990 in the Midlands, and R1 956,330 in the Northern region. As a result, the annual average income for all three regions is R1 286,400. With this in mind, their device should not cost more than R100,000 in order for all farmers to be able to buy it, hence increasing demand.

#### **3.3 Convenience and easy to use**

Given that there are more small-scale sugarcane farmers in KZN (20,711) than large-scale sugarcane farmers (1126), most of them will have less knowledge of how to use the device, so a less complex control system must be considered so that they do

**Figure 2.** *2020–2022 average annualized income per hectare [13].*

not have to hire labor to operate, lowering labor costs. The device must also be serviceable, which means that the design's parts and components must be made locally available.
