16 year old Kiara Nirghin wanted to help solve the recent drought problem (and presently the worst ever) that hit South Africa. She had a little idea of using an orange peel to develop cheap super absorbent material to help soil retain water.
This ‘little’ innovation won her the grand prize at a Google science fair recently.
Kiara beat students from around the world for a $50,000 scholarship with her “fighting drought with fruit” submission. According to her, she had to come up with three different experiments in 45 days before she got the popular ‘orange peel mixture’. This mixture was made out of waste products from the juice-manufacturing industry.
“The only resources involved in the creation of the ‘orange peel mixture’ were electricity and time, no special equipment nor were materials required,”
Kiara hopes her innovation would help farmers save their crops and money during the drought season.
We know it will.
