Di pre-teen girls wey design app to fight food insecurity for Nigeria

At a time wen Nigeria don declare state of emergency over food insecurity, dis award-winning group of pre-teens believe say dia innovation fit help tackle di problem.

Di girls - 12-year-old Goodness Nwonanne-Chima, Tiffany Tejiri Oghenemaro; 11-year-old Excel Kiisibari Barile-Nwika and Salome Obehiremen Akhabhau wey call demsef “Smartelite” explain say dia AgriConnect app wey dem design go bring farmers, land owners and investors to come togeda wit dia resources and skills to solve di problem of food insecurity and promote local production of food for Nigeria.

Dis dia innovation according to di girls, dey in line wit goal two of di United Nations sustainable development goals to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition by 2030.

Di way dem explain am be say through di app, pesin wey get land but no know how to farm fit meet pesin wey sabi farm but no get land and money and dem two fit meet pesin wey get money to invest in agriculture.

“So di investor go bring di money to take do di farm, di farmer go bring im skills and knowledge about farming and di landowner go bring in land wey dem go take do di farm work. At di end of di day, all of dem go benefit from di farm according to di way dem agree to share di profit.” Salome tok.

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Wetin ginger dem to design di app?

Di report by di Nigerian Federal Ministry of Agriculture wey say 31.5 million Nigerians go suffer from food crisis and acute hunger between June and August 2024 naim ginger di girls to try to provide solution as e mean say di main food producing region of di kontri, dat na northern Nigeria, no go fit produce enof food.

“Di solution to dis problem na for evri region of di kontri to produce dia food.” na so Goodness tok.

She say dem come do small research and give out questionnaires to some pipo and 86% of di pipo express interest in farming but dem no get di means or resources to start.

Dis make dem to develop di AgriConnect mobile application wey go connect di farmers, nearby landowners and seedling sellers and investors. Di app also get a section wey fit teach pesin wey dey interested in area of agriculture wey no know bifor how to go about dat kain farming too.

From creating solution to global recognition

Di young junior secondary school girls due to dia innovation win di Beginner Division finalist team of 2024 Technovation Girls wey dey encourage girls to embrace STEM education.

Dis competition dey expose young girls from kontris around di world to use tech skills to solve problems for di environment. E get three categories for special awards in education, agriculture and climate change.

Schools girls from China win di one for climate change, Poland win di one for education and dis pre-teen girls from Nigeria win di one in agriculture for di Combat Hunger Award category.

Dis don qualify dem among di 15 winners across di world for more training for California, USA later in di year wia dem go still compete with oda teams.

Dis win surprise di girls as dem no expect am, but e don ginger dem di more especially to learn more about coding and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

‘Na encouragement for young girls to embrace STEM education and tech skills’

For dia mentor, Somkenechukwu Mamah, dis app na good demonstration of di girls coding lessons and skills and na proud moment for am.

E say di main aim na to expose small pikin dem to tech and help to develop dia problem solving skills so dem go fit identify problem for dia community and use di tech skills wey dem don learn to find solution to dat problem.

“I dey veri excited as e be like say pesin hard work don pay off. Dis Technovation award no only test dia tech skills after dem don go through di 12 weeks curriculum but e also help dia social skills as dem do group work, brainstorming sessions wia dem identify problem for dia society and come up wit solution to am wey address Goal 2 of SDG goals wey be zero hunger.