A five-member team, headed by Devaki Naganna Naikodi of Government High School in Martur village of Kalaburagi district, has come out with a cost-effective and health-friendly mosquito repellent.
The team uses “milk” extracted from the Papaya tree and smears it on incense sticks which acts as an effective mosquito repellent when it is burnt.
The model won the first prize in the senior level (rural) contest in the 23rd State Level Children’s Science Congress held at Gokak in Belagavi district from November 27 to 29. It will now be presented in the 23rd National Children’s Science Congress.
Devaki and teammates Chandrakala, Santosh, Akash and Jyoti study in class 10 in the Government High School at Martur.
Devaki, daughter of illiterate agricultural labourer parents Naganna Naikodi and Parvathi Naikodi, said that the death of her 26-year-old neighbour few months ago due to dengue fever prompted her to look out for affordable mosquito repellents.
“We surveyed 200 families out of the 1,338 families in the villages and found out that in the past five years, 25 cases of dengue were reported and two persons had died due to the fever,” she said.
Devaki said that Papaya has good medicinal properties and the juice of its leaves helps in improving platelet count of the blood.
