Google has announced the 90 finalists for its science fair this year. Among the finalist are two teenagers from Swaziland.
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The two 14-year old finalists, Sakihwe Shongwe and Bonkhe Mahlalela, developed an agricultural innovation to grow food using Unique Simplified Hydroponics Method (USHM). This method uses organic waste to grow food. It also uses non organic material such as carton as containers.
“We then dissolved nutrients in chicken manure, into the water used for watering. Our aim was to produce large quantity of crops in a relative small area, without harming the environment with chemicals such as fertilizers; while using what others call waste in our crop production,” they said in their project blog.
The two were quoted on the Google blog saying, “Winning the Google Science Fair as young Swazi scientists cannot change the world; however it change the way we live in it. Given the opportunity the project can make Swaziland a better country to live in.”
Bonkhe is from a remote region in Swaziland. His family does subsistence farming for a living. According to him, the farming method does not produce enough yields to sustain his family – they have been surviving on food aid for the last decade.
The two apart from being finalists in the Google Science Fair were also nominated for the Scientific American Science in Action award.
Google will narrow down the 90 finalists to 15 on June 6. The winner of the Scientific American Science in Action award will also be known on the same day.
