The games have begun and the adventures of Food For Mzansi’s Minecraft World continue. On 17 January, 12 players started with the crop and livestock farming game and instantly started sharing their building plans.
Ronelle Louwrens, a senior executive at the Food For Mzansi Group, says it is evident that the children taking part in the game wanted to be exposed to and understand the food value chain, and the platform is helping the next generation of food growers and processors.
“There is a growing need for South Africa’s children, especially, to be exposed to the origin of their food and understanding the food value chain,” said Louwrens.
“With food security expected to worsen, Africa will need passionate and skilled youth to enter the agricultural space and to be the next generation of food growers and processors,” she added.
Players choose different approaches
Initially, the 12 players were given a week to build their bases. One player was destroying farms and building equipment, but the player was immediately removed from the server, said Gareth Davies, the mastermind behind Food For Mzansi Minecraft World.
“The rest of the build week was filled with the players trading and helping each other build their bases. Everyone took different approaches. Technical players started building their automated farms to collect resources with difficult-to-get resources while creative builders started to build their beautiful farmhouses, underground hobbit holes or entire farming complexes,” he said.
Challenges have begun
According to Davies, farmers need to take all resources to their farm and fill up a silo that was created by him. The player with the most resources will be rewarded as the winner of that challenge.
“The technical players instantly started filling up their silos. They had prepared for this and had been stockpiling foods and animal products. The creative players sprang into action to build their farms and plant their crops,” said Davies.
On day five of the challenge, another player had to be banned for stealing and using other farmers’ equipment.
“Same as before, the guy was found stealing from other farmers and using their equipment to try and get ahead. We encouraged help and teamwork but if someone used things without permission or caused damages, they would get a warning.”
The first winner
It was a spirited fight for the No 1 spot during the first challenge. In the end, “Relic” was the winner of this challenge, with Xavier in second, and Mona third.
For the second challenge that started last Friday, Davies said, “Players are given an extremely small piece of land and they will need to build a creative and effective vertical farm in the space provided. Players will be rewarded for their creativity and ingenuity in their approach to the challenge as well as their understanding of vertical farming and how they can apply the concept within Minecraft.”
The winner of the second challenge will be crowned on Friday.
If you want to see the game in action, visit Food For Mzansi’s exhibition at the Africa Agri Tech Conference and Exhibition at the Sunbet Arena in Menlyn Main, Pretoria.
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