00:00I'm Kamara Ajata. I'm 27 years old and a PhD student in climate change,
00:08biodiversity and sustainable agriculture. I study plant diseases and how to treat them.
00:18I've always been interested in agriculture because my father had a farm. So right from
00:23childhood I was with him in the fields and the more you do something the more you love it.
00:30I thought why not study yams because at home we were always getting yams and we noticed that
00:41their shelf life had dropped sharply over time. When people see there's rot they just cut off
00:50the parts that rotten. It's actually because they're trying to save the rest of the tuber
00:55so they can sell it or eat it.
01:04I identified five groups of fungi that cause rot here in C么te d'Ivoire. The steps involved in that
01:09took me three years but at the same time I was identifying the fungi I was already looking for
01:15methods to get them under control. I received the 2022 L'Or茅al UNESCO award for women in science
01:25for young talent. On that day of the ceremony I was so stressed and everyone around me knew it
01:31because it was here in C么te d'Ivoire. But at the end I was happy.
01:42The biopesticide that I developed is simply made of essential oils, plant extracts and water. That's all.
01:49The women who sell yams were at first surprised to see that something like this existed. Then they were
01:54dubious as to whether it would work. They were worried I'd just get their yams wet but have no results
02:03and actually cause more losses. So they were happy to see that it did work and to know they have
02:11an alternative that will allow their yams to last even longer in their stock. I was happy to contribute
02:17something new. I didn't expect to be in the media so much. When I was in high school my role model
02:30was Marie Curie. She was white. Because I had no information I didn't know that African women also
02:36did science. It wasn't until I got to university and my science lecturers were women.
02:41I help young female researchers in the laboratory with their manipulations. I try to coach them a
02:51little. Their main concern is that they're African. Because they think if I apply for a scholarship
03:00will they accept me? Because for a woman at master's level you're expected to be thinking about marriage,
03:06family, finding a little job. So what's the point of going for a doctorate?
03:14So I tell them if I've been accepted for a doctorate and a scholarship you can be too. Because
03:20we've had almost the same career path. If I had to give advice to a younger me it would be go for it. Reach for the top.
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