At age 11, he's moving the needle for Botswana farmers

With the help of a new mobile application called Farm Assistant, developed by Wu Zeyin, farmers in Botswana can make their work much easier.

Wu, an 11-year-old pupil from Hubei province, 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."

Tropical savanna and desert climates are the norm in most parts of the country, making it difficult to grow common crops. Drought-tolerant species of corn, sorghum and beans are also uncommon.

For a long time, Botswana had to import many grains, fruits and vegetables from neighboring countries, such as South Africa, to meet the needs of its people.

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," he said. "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."

The app supports eight crops commonly grown locally, 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."