Rarely you will notice a computer programmer walking with hardware, wires and breadboards to a hackathon.

On 19th October 2013, a team of four walked into the Rwanda National ICT4AG Hackathon with an arduino microcontroller. And on the evening of 20th October, the same team walked out of the hackathon with a brand new retina display Macbook Pro award.

This Arduino team that worn the first prize composed of Dukundane Gashongore Prince, Muramira Hilary, Basomingera Robert and IGIRANEZA Origene who developed an electronic gadget that tests soil fertility and gives recommendation of the missing soil nutrients.

The gadget also has a wireless connection to a Soil Fertility national database that will map every individual plot's number with its soil fertility status.

The following best 4 teams were also each awarded a brand New i7 HP Laptop.

This hackathon that took place at kLab had brought together 50 hackers both from kLab and local universities to a 36hour non stop coding session.

The competition involved 12 teams each made of 5 to 3 people, all focusing on solving 3 challenges.

Challenge 1:How can bidirectional information sharing and communication between farmers and extension workers be encouraged or improved? Key areas of interest include information sharing and advisory on soil fertility, fertilizers, weather information, pests, diseases, access to localized farming inputs, multimedia content and ability to verify counterfeit products.

Challenge 2: Through ICT applications, how can access to financial services be made easier for farmers through a disruptive, innovative tool?

Challenge 3: How can the one cow per poor family (Gira Inka) initiative be monitored, evaluated and enhanced through use of ICT.

The Winner of the National hackathon will enter Regional ict4ag Hackthon that will involve winners from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Madagascar in November 2013.

Both Hackthons are part of the larger ict4ag international conference due on 04th to 08th November at Serena Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda.

Rwanda National ICT4AG Hackthon was organized by MINAGRI, CTA, kLAB and Rwanda ICT Chamber with sponsorship from AGRA.

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.