Description
NMA agro is a mobile application developed by Lithuania's National Paying Agency (NMA) that enables farmers to digitally report activities related to agricultural support schemes and regulatory obligations. Through the app, farmers can submit geotagged photographs and notifications confirming the completion of activities such as crop cultivation, land management, or investment projects, as well as report issues affecting the fulfilment of their commitments. The application supports remote compliance monitoring by combining farmer-submitted evidence with satellite imagery, vegetation index layers, and other geospatial data, reducing the need for on-site inspections. It also provides access to declared agricultural parcels, payment and application information, deadlines, news, weather forecasts, and an interactive map for reporting field activities. In addition, members of the public can view annually declared agricultural parcels and report potential irregularities, such as abandoned or overgrown land, through the application.
Technology
NMA agro is a mobile geospatial application for Android and iOS that enables farmers to submit geotagged photographs and location-based information directly to Lithuania's National Paying Agency. Built on the ArcGIS Runtime SDK, the application captures GPS coordinates and camera orientation (azimuth) alongside user-provided information, allowing evidence of completed agricultural activities or reported issues to be transmitted electronically. The app also includes tools for measuring field areas and distances, which can be attached to submitted reports. Through regularly updated satellite-based Earth observation data, including Copernicus Sentinel imagery, the application provides thematic map layers such as vegetation indices and crop water stress indicators to support crop monitoring, irrigation and fertilization planning, yield assessment, and the documentation of agricultural activities or force majeure events. In addition, the app offers a range of publicly accessible geospatial layers—including control parcels, erosion-prone areas, Natura 2000 sites, wetlands, and abandoned land—improving transparency and helping farmers better understand land-use constraints and eligibility requirements.
Target
The main users of NMA agro are farmers applying for agricultural subsidies, public authorities engaged in the application of agricultural policies, the Paying Agency and the citizens of Lithuania. The app, which is only available in Lithuanian, has been used by more than 36 000 users in the country.
Business model
The app is fully free to use, and is accessible through the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania.
Impact
NMA agro has received international recognition, including being selected as one of the four best digital public service examples in the "Legal Regulation / Better Market Access / Financial Services and Insurance" category at the 2021 Regional Forum of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). One of its principal benefits has been enabling remote compliance monitoring through geotagged photographs and Earth observation data, reducing the need for on-site inspections. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the application played an important role in allowing inspections to continue remotely. According to the NMA, continued digitalization and the use of remote controls have substantially reduced inspection resources: between 2016 and 2024, the number of staff conducting on-site inspections fell by around 50% (from 160 to 77), inspectors' travel distance decreased by approximately 3.5 times (from 3.2 million km to 0.9 million km), and the agency reduced its inspection vehicle fleet by more than half while maintaining its control functions.
Four Betters
Better production
Better environment
