A Chinese learner living in Botswana, Wu Zeyin (11) has developed a new mobile application ‘Farm Assistant’ for to make work for farmers in that country easier.
Wu originally from Hubei province in China, moved to Botswana with his family seven years ago.
“During the past years living in the country, I found that the quantity of fruit and vegetables sold at local supermarkets very limited, and quality was poor,” he said. “Some vegetables weren’t ripe, such as small carrots and green tomatoes, and they are quite expensive,” he told the Chinese media recently.
Tropical savanna and desert climates are the norm in most parts of Botswana, making it difficult to grow crops. Drought-tolerant species of corn, sorghum and beans are also uncommon.
For many years, Botswana had to import many grains, fruits and vegetables from neighboring countries, such as South Africa, to meet the needs of its people.
However, in a bid to eliminate food shortages, Botswana has embarked on a series of cooperative arrangements with China. In July last year, a pilot project to grow China’s water-saving and drought-tolerant rice was successfully undertaken in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, which brought Wu some new ideas on local agriculture.
“At that time, I was preparing for the first Youth Artificial Intelligence and Future Media Global Innovation Challenge. When I got the news, I gave up my initial plan of developing a personal time management app, and decided to develop an app for agriculture,” Wu added.
His mobile application supports eight crops grown in Botswana, including tomatoes, potatoes, onions, corn, carrots, cabbage, eggplant and radishes.
Farmers who use the application can click on the crop picture to see its planting node, watering needs, ripening time, seed price, selling price and yield.
After planting the seeds, farmers click the timer to start, and the application reminds them what to do at each stage.
Wu quotes an old saying in China: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
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