Microsoft and IICA launch Minecraft-based technology challenge for high school students in Costa Rica

San Jose, 6 June 2023 (IICA). Microsoft and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) launched the Minecraft Education Challenge for Agriculture, targeting Costa Rican high school students. The intention is to use the video game as a vehicle to develop soft and digital skills among youth, thus contributing to bridging the technological gaps within the wider population.
 
The technological challenge requires students to develop a solution in the Minecraft world that addresses the current global challenge of how to boost agricultural production, through more efficient natural resource use, against the backdrop of global population growth, a decrease in arable land and climate change.
 
The challenge is open to active high school students, who will be able to create three- or four-member team.

Interested students must register before June 30, using the following form: https://forms.office.com/r/NG8uBN662j.
 
As part of the process and in preparation to devise their solutions, the young people will undergo training between July and August 2023 in the use of Minecraft and in agricultural issues. At the end of September, a preliminary elimination will be conducted from all the solutions submitted and the final event and awards ceremony will take place in early October.
 
“Minecraft has proven itself to be a powerful educational tool in awakening interest in technology-driven agriculture. We are very excited to create this type of experience, which allows participants to gain new knowledge and to provide fresh perspectives on the emerging challenges in this field. “We are eager to see what ideas for agricultural technology these young people may come up with and to award their creativity and innovation”, remarked Margarita Morera, Director of Education for Microsoft Central America.
 
Emmanuel Picado, Information and Communication Technologies and Digital Agriculture Manager at IICA explained that, “With the knowledge acquired and through their own research, they must devise a solution to the problem posed in the Minecraft world, based on certain premises. The solution must also satisfy specific minimum requirements”.

 Some of the basic premises of the Minecraft challenge will be the existence of a city with a protected zone that cannot be altered; different types of soils; limited availability of water and a water source that is remote; low rainfall; a primarily dry climate; and land that would be insufficient to feed the entire population of the city if only traditional cultivation is employed.
 
Furthermore, as part of the requirements, the solution must include the development of products that are sufficient to feed the entire city, using fewer resources and doing so without damaging the environment. It must also demonstrate efficient water use, employ sustainable production processes that achieve greater production yields in the available space, produce a diverse range of crops, provide options for crop storage and employ efficient technology-based systems.
 
Moreover, the solution must include at least one element of automation, while demonstrating pest management, actions to manage climate change and the positive effect of fertilization.
 
Emmanuel Picado indicated that, “Everything developed in the Minecraft world must represent a real solution or explain what it would imply in the real world. The submission must be accompanied by a video explaining the different components of the challenge solution. The solution could also feature diversified agricultural landscapes, such as the integration of agriculture, livestock production and forestry”.
 
In addition to applying digital skills in agriculture (Agri-STEAM), the Minecraft Education Challenge for Agriculture seeks to develop critical and collaborative thinking in young people, empowering them as agents of change in their schools and communities and allowing them to participate in developing solutions, offering a fresh and dynamic perspective.
 
The technological challenge was launched during Digital Agriculture Week 2023, which was held at IICA Headquarters in San Jose.

More information:
Emmanuel Picado, Manage of Information and Communication Technologies and Digital Agriculture.
emmanuel.picado@iica.int