Description

FAMS (Farmer & Agribusiness Management System) is an integrated digital platform developed under the GIZ initiative to support agribusinesses and agricultural cooperatives in Mozambique. The system enables organisations to monitor, manage, and digitise their operations across the entire agricultural value chain  from farmer registration and field data collection to purchase management, stock control, and mobile payments. It features a Web Portal and a Mobile App with full offline support, a modular plugin architecture, and multilingual capabilities.

My Role and Contributions

• Full-Stack Development: Developed and maintained core backend modules and frontend interfaces, including farmer management, purchase workflows, stock control, and reporting dashboards.

• Plugin Architecture: Built and maintained the modular plugin system that allows dynamic enabling/disabling of features such as Traceability, E-Payment (MPesa), SMS Communication, Stock Management, and Field Visits via environment configuration.

• Mobile API & Synchronization: Developed RESTful API endpoints for the FAMS Mobile App, enabling offline data collection and intelligent synchronization between desktop and mobile platforms.

• Multilingual System: Implemented a dynamic multi-language interface supporting Portuguese, English, and configurable regional dialects, with middleware-based language switching.

• Reporting & Data Export: Built comprehensive Excel and PDF export functionality with company branding, auto-sized columns, and print-friendly formatting across all modules.

Key Features

• Farmer Database & Digital Dossier: Complete producer registration with georeferenced field locations, identity cards, production history, and digital documentation.

• Agricultural Purchase Management: End-to-end purchase tracking from field to factory, including weighing controls, payments, and full traceability with transport guides.

• Stock & Input Control: Warehouse inventory management and input distribution tracking with automatic reconciliation based on deliveries.

• Surveys & Training Management: Dynamic questionnaire builder (Form.io), training session tracking, participant certificates, and bulk SMS messaging via USendit API.

• Mobile App with Offline Support: Companion mobile application for field agents with full offline data collection and intelligent sync with the web platform.

• Analytical Dashboards: Interactive charts and dashboards with GIS mapping (Google Maps) for data-driven decision making across all modules.

• Role-Based Access Control: Granular permission system with multiple roles (Admin, Manager, Technician) and plugin-level access control.

Technology Stack

• Backend Framework: Laravel  with modular plugin architecture, RESTful API, and Spatie Laravel Permission for role-based access control.

• Frontend: Blade templating engine with JavaScript, Chart.js for dashboards, Form.io for dynamic surveys, and Google Maps API for GIS features.

• Database: MySQL with soft deletes, audit trails (owen-it/laravel-auditing), and optimized queries for large-scale farmer datasets.

• Mobile Integration: RESTful API with Laravel Sanctum for mobile app authentication, offline-first synchronization, and data integrity safeguards.

• Payment & Communication: MPesa integration via samuelbie/mpesa package for mobile payments, and USendit API for bulk SMS notifications.

• Data Export: Maatwebsite Excel and DomPDF for generating branded Excel and PDF reports with custom formatting and company logos.

• Build Tools: Laravel Mix (Webpack) for asset compilation, with environment-based configuration for development and production builds.