Ivorian Researcher Adjata Kamara Awarded For Her Research On Yam
Adjata Kamara is one of 20 winners of the L'Oréal Foundation/UNESCO "For Women in Science" initiative, which aims to give visibility to women researchers around the world.
The 25-year-old Ivorian was chosen for her work on bio-pesticides, designed to protect yam crops, a root that is highly prized in sub-Saharan Africa.
Adjata stressed:"It allows her to show her research to other women, to other countries, and it puts her under a bit of pressure because she thinks that now she has to be a role model for young girls who have to do science "
In order to preserve the environment, the research of Adjata should lead to the development of bio-pesticides based on plant, fungus and bacterial extracts, but above all free of chemicals.
The young researcher Adjata was born in Bondoukou, in the North-East of Ivory Coast, a region renowned for its yam tubers. She is the youngest of a family of sixteen children. Ever since she was a child, she has been thinking about ways to improve yields on the plantations of her family.
According to the L'Oréal Foundation, only 2% of the researchers of the world are from sub-Saharan Africa. One third of them are the women. Adjata Kamara will receive 10,000 Euros to finance and carry out her research.
