Build a Climate-Smart Planning Tool for Nigerian Smallholders

Farmers in Kano and Kaduna who once planted by the Harmattan are finding the rains arrive three to four weeks later than their parents taught them. In the South-South, flooding events are more frequent and less predictable. Smallholders are bearing the cost of climate uncertainty with no tools to help them adapt. Your challenge is to design a climate-smart agricultural planning tool that synthesises seasonal forecast data from NIMET and historical rainfall records into practical guidance for smallholder farmers. It must be usable by someone with no formal education and accessible via USSD or basic smartphone apps. Submit a product concept (max 12 pages) including: the data sources you would use, how you would make forecasts actionable rather than abstract, how you would deliver it to farmers in the field, and a plan for validating accuracy over one growing season. Judging criteria: 35% usability for low-literacy users, 30% quality of climate data integration, 20% validation approach, 15% scalability.