FIVE students from the Department of Computing at the University of the West Indies (UWI), who developed a computerised mobile application called ‘Farma Bredren’, are the 2013 champions in the Caribbean Regional Open Data Conference’s Software Application Competition for Jamaica.

The Caribbean Regional Open Data Conference is an annual two-day event which began on April 11. The highlight was a 24-hour battle that allowed 13 groups from Jamaica to develop computer-driven applications which would make a difference and benefit the economy.

The five winning students were Jonathan Smith, Kangwa Sambo, Mumba Sambo, Kimberley Roper and Bruce Hoo Fung. They were from team K2MJB.

According to Mumba Sambo, who spoke on behalf of the team, the victory resulted from hard work in a pressuring environment.

“I speak for the whole group when I say that we are ecstatic. We are really happy to have won. We put in a lot of work on the application. Between the whole group, I think we got a maximum of three hours of sleep, if so much, altogether,” he told Career & Education following the announcement of the team’s victory.

Team K2MJB’s ‘Farma Bredren’ is a mobile phone application that will improve how the Rural Agriculture Development Authority (RADA) collects information on crops from farmers across the island.

“RADA will benefit by having a mobile application which (its) extension officers can use to update their records instantly from the field,” Sambo explained.

“This will be important so that there is a better record of which crops are available and from whom. It will improve the quality of information on the amount of produce available,” he added.

‘Farma Bredren’ will also allow RADA extension officers and farmers to record instances of praedial larceny through a special feature called ‘Infarma’. The extension officers will use ‘Infarma’ to document farmers’ reports of theft first-hand, storing images and dispatching information about the theft to the police and other farmers.

Praedial larceny is one of the chief issues crippling farmers in the Jamaica. Team K2MJB argued in their presentation that their computerised app will allow reports about the theft of produce and livestock to be disseminated accurately and with greater ease. This can provide the inputs for a dynamic theft reporting system where incidents can be displayed on a map, as well as broadcast via SMS to enable police and other farmers to be alerted and respond in a timely manner.

The award for first runners-up was given to the ‘Farmscore’ team of Tremaine Buchanan and Delton Phillips.

“It feels good to be in the second place. It’s the second time I’ve entered a similar competition and it’s a good feeling all round and I know that Delton here shares the same sentiment,” Buchanan told Career & Education.

They created an application which would allow banks to keep records of the farmers they give loans to, as well as their production.

Third place went to Team Blaze for their app called ‘Blaze Bartender’. Teammates were Jason Scott, Jonathan Cooper and Kevin Leyow.

“We basically built an app that helps you to buy drinks at a crowded party. If you are at a party and you cannot bother to go in line with everybody else, you can just go on your phone, click a button and order the drink. You get a text when it’s ready. You also don’t have to worry about being robbed, because we have a credit card system. You don’t have to worry about spending too much at the club, because you can just put on the amount that you want,” Cooper said.

The competition was held at the Faculty of Law at UWI, Mona.

Team K2MJB along with the second and third place teams will now have the opportunity to focus on refining their software applications and sourcing funds to take them into production.