Muscat – Innovator Ahmed bin Amer al Jabri has qualified for the final stage of the US$50,000 King Abdullah II Award for Youth Achievement and Creativity.

Jabri’s project – Qatra, which uses smart tech to rationalise water consumption for irrigation – is among four pioneering projects by Arab youth which will compete for the top honour in the award’s sixth edition.

Qatra was founded as a student startup in 2015 and has since won many awards, including the 2020 Shell LiveWIRE Top Ten Innovators award.

Jabri said, “The smart irrigator has helped solve an environmental problem. Water is scarce and this device reduces water consumption. Studies have shown that 85 per cent of water used for irrigation is wasted.”

Explaining how his device works, Jabri said that a sensor placed near crop measures soil moisture. These readings control activation and shutting down of an irrigation system, depending on soil type and crop variety.

The other finalists are Rasha Abu Shaddam (Jordan) for her project ‘Martha Education’, which creates technology-supported educational products and tools for deaf children; Haitham Ali Khalifa (Egypt) for his project which seeks to economically empower marginalised groups through optimal exploitation of available resources and the use of recycling technology in agriculture; and Seif el Din el Aj (Morocco) for his project providing sustainable solutions for waste recycling by producing environmentally friendly building materials from plastic waste.

According to a statement by the awards committee, the finalists will undergo a training programme prior to the presentation stage before the jury. The winner will receive US$50,000 to develop their project further.