Farming solution wins the Fursa vs Virus challenge – KBC

The government has underscored the commitment to support youth technically and also provide them with opportunities to create wealth.

The opportunities include accessing the supply chain in various infrastructure projects through the AGPO program where government agencies allocate 30% of their budget to youth, gender and persons with disabilities.

This emerged during the awarding ceremony for Fursa vs Virus competition winners.

The four top solutions were Expan USSD, Ntaka Charcoal, Njiraini Food, and the winner of the Fursa vs Virus challenge was Plant Signal, a free offline interactive, smartphone app that offers farmers real-time diagnosis of the pest or disease that affect their crop.

Speaking at the celebrations, President Uhuru Kenyatta welcomed the role played by both public and private sector entities in supporting the youth.

“Today we will celebrate the winners of the Fursa versus Virus Challenge. This is an initiative by the National Youth Council to facilitate and promote innovative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. We are particularly grateful to Huawei Technologies Kenya for covering internet costs for the entire Fursa versus Virus Challenge period as well as for providing 47 tablets and three laptops for the winners,” President Kenyatta said.

On his part, ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru termed the competition as an exciting collaboration between public and private sectors that enabled the youth to utilize the internet to submit solutions and be trained, mentored and offered financial and other in-kind support.

Mucheru also said the youth are critical to addressing COVID-19 and technology can play a critical role in reaching them and supporting them to develop their solutions.

He welcomed the role played by partners in making the initiative a success. “Mastercard Foundation is one of the other partners we have been working with very closely. I want to recognize them alongside all the other partners we have: the UN; with the technology partners, Huawei and KCB. This is something we will continue to work together,” said the ICT Cabinet Secretary.

During the competition, Huawei Kenya supported outreach through the DigiTruck mobile training classroom reaching rural youth by giving them access to the internet and training on essential skills on-demand in the remotest places in our country. Huawei Kenya CEO Will Meng, said: “We believe these devices we are providing today will go a long way to fulfilling young people’s dreams”.

Huawei has also provided online training, data bundles and various prizes and technical support for the winners.

The Principal Secretary in charge of the State Department for Youth Affairs, Julius Korir said the government is keen on measures to unlock youth economic empowerment, harness and develop youth talent for national development.

“This is why when this Fursa vs Virus Challenge was presented to me by the National Youth Council, it received an immediate nod as it represented a great opportunity for the for the national government to join forces with the youth to deliver solutions that transform the country,” he observed.

NYC is a State Corporation in the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, has been leading in the COVID-19 response, however, they quickly realized that COVID-19 is a major labour market, social and economic issue with the youth being the biggest culprit.

Speakers during the celebrations said technology is critical to the Economic Recovery Response.