| Work Detail |
When Zaid, a veterinarian and university lecturer, decided to enter a hackathon to dream up innovations in agriculture, he turned to the past to find a name for his team. He chose the name NABU to honour the ancient Mesopotamian deity, revered as the god of wisdom, agricultural prosperity and abundant harvests. With this inspiration, the team was determined to tackle a pressing issue facing farmers in the Ninewa region of Iraq: tomato waste. We wanted to address the massive food waste during peak tomato seasons, where farmers often discard excess tomatoes, said Zaid. Our goal was to transform these surplus tomatoes into valuable products. A meeting of minds at the hackathon The teams journey began at the EU-funded hackathon in February, where they came together to create something that could solve a real-world problem. Some of us had backgrounds in agriculture, while others were involved in different initiatives, but the hackathon was where it all clicked, said Isen, a team member with deep agricultural roots. It was here that NABUs core idea took shape: turning surplus tomatoes into dried food products. We were inspired to create value-added products that could provide both a sustainable solution for farmers and a nutritious option for consumers, said Huda, a member with a diploma in finance and a current student in management information systems. |
