# Organise BiedjaCam crop plans alongside pesticide and IPM records

URL: https://leafwrit.com/mt/biedjacam-crop-plan/
Reviewed: 2026-10-23

BiedjaCam is ARPA’s mobile app for organising and planning agricultural holdings digitally. The agency’s published booklet describes registered parcels, crop-plan management, structures, equipment, aid applications, payments, events, geotagged photographs and communication with ARPA. For the IPM context, Malta’s CAP Strategic Plan version 3.1 separately requires eligible beneficiaries to use ARPA’s mobile apps to submit and update their crop plan and their use of plant protection products. [^1][^2]

Keep the crop-plan workflow connected to your pesticide and monitoring evidence without merging their purposes. The crop plan identifies what is grown in a parcel. The application record describes the product use that occurred. IPM observations support the decisions made under the plan. This guide follows the published ARPA booklet and identifies the CAP plan version for the scheme provisions it describes. [^1][^3][^2]

## Begin with the holding information the booklet identifies

ARPA’s guide says IACS registration information should be correct and up to date, including identity card or VAT details and the mobile number. Its activation sequence uses those identifiers and an SMS verification code before a password is established. Keep the administrative identity distinguishable from the local name a farmer uses for a parcel. [^1]

Before working through the published sequence, prepare the details associated with the holding. Identify the person authorised by the business to handle the information. Keep a note of the agency correspondence or account issue that needs resolution. These are practical preparation suggestions, not a statement that this portal can access or modify an ARPA account.

The booklet lists Android or iOS devices with camera, accelerometer, gyroscope and compass sensors, alongside a Google or Apple account, in its device requirements. These are the requirements printed in the cited April 2024 publication. Keep that publication date visible when using its instructions as a reference document. [^1]

## Understand what each documented function concerns

| Published function | Information category | How to organise the supporting file |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Registered parcels | Holding locations | Keep agency parcel references beside local field names |
| Crop-plan management | Crops and planting/harvest information | Identify the crop entry and relevant period |
| Structures and equipment | Holding assets | Distinguish these from an individual treatment event |
| Aid applications and payments | Administrative applications and payment information | Preserve correspondence under the relevant scheme or claim |
| Events and notifications | Agency communication | Retain the date, subject and related parcel or application |
| Geotagged photographs | Location-linked photographic evidence | Associate the images with the crop and scheme concerned |

These functions are listed in ARPA’s booklet. The table is an editorial filing aid; it does not assert that one screen replaces the legally required application information or every scheme document. [^1][^3]

## Locate the crop plan in the published process

The booklet identifies crop plans as mandatory when applying for Eco-Scheme 1, dedicating parcels to biodiversity and pollination; Eco-Scheme 2, integrated pest management; and Eco-Scheme 3, encouraging bio-mulch. It directs the user to “My Crops” to compile a crop plan without visiting the agency office. Existing crops compiled by ARPA can appear in the list. [^1]

For your working preparation, identify which parcel and scheme the crop belongs to. Compare the official parcel reference with the local field-name list. Keep a source document or clarification if the farmer’s usual name does not match the agency description. An understandable reference helps you connect later monitoring and pesticide records to the correct place.

The guide describes adding a crop through the plus sign in the crop page. It says eligible crops for each scheme are found in the relevant scheme guidance. Preserve the scheme document used for the particular application, including its title and date, instead of treating the app’s crop list as an independent explanation of all eligibility conditions. [^1]

## Separate planted crops from planned crops

The “Add Crop” instructions allow a crop already planted or sown, or one planned for planting or sowing. The booklet says a planting date can automatically generate a harvest date, which can be altered; other details can also be changed if required. This is the documented crop-plan process, not evidence that a particular harvest actually happened on a generated date. [^1]

For your records, distinguish a proposed planting, an actual planting and an actual harvest. Preserve the origin of each date when preparing a seasonal explanation. If a planning value later changes, retain the supporting event information in the ordinary farm archive. Do not copy a generated harvest date into an unrelated pesticide event merely because both entries concern the same parcel.

The guide’s search instructions describe filters such as field name, crop, land use or date. Use those categories as a way to prepare a clear enquiry or document index. Record which crop and period you are discussing so an adviser or administrator can find the relevant entry without reviewing every season. [^1]

## Keep crop-plan and PPP-use information connected

The DP ECO-IPM section of CAP plan version 3.1 says eligible beneficiaries use ARPA’s mobile apps to submit and update their crop plan and use of plant protection products. It describes the requirement within that intervention. It is not phrased as a universal command that every professional user must use BiedjaCam for every pesticide record. [^2]

Keep the underlying application information organised by its event reference. Regulation 2023/564 requires the product name and authorisation number, date, dose, location, treated extent and crop or situation, with category-specific details in the Annex. Those information groups describe the completed use independently of how a crop-plan screen presents the parcel. [^3]

For a working comparison, select a crop-plan entry and locate the corresponding parcel in the application register. Compare crop wording and relevant dates, then investigate any discrepancy through the actual source records. A change in the planned crop should not silently rewrite the history of a product applied during an earlier crop period.

## Know the photographed-evidence distinction between schemes

The BiedjaCam booklet says geotagged photographs are mandatory for Eco-Schemes 1 and 3, while taking photographs for Eco-Scheme 2 is voluntary. It describes adding the crop first, turning on the device’s location function, visiting the field and using the photo function. In the documented camera sequence, the user declares the growth stage and saves the required details. [^1]

Keep the image associated with the crop, parcel and scheme it documents. The photograph’s role should be intelligible from the accompanying reference. A crop image and a product-use entry establish different things; a picture of a field alone does not supply the product authorisation identifier or dose in the application-record Annex. [^3][^1]

For your own photo inventory, retain the original image and any relevant agency communication. Distinguish a newly captured image from an attachment copied into an office response. Explain the crop or location shorthand used in filenames so a different authorised colleague can identify the evidence without relying on the photographer’s memory.

## Follow the booklet’s image-quality instructions

ARPA’s published advice calls for multiple photographs, coverage of the subject together with the rest of the field, sufficient distance, different angles and positions, and avoidance of photographs facing the sun or taken in low light. The purpose described is to allow the agency to make a decision from usable images. [^1]

Prepare the photographic task by identifying what the particular scheme evidence needs to show. Keep the source instruction with the task description. After capture, review the actual saved images for legibility and context. If a relevant feature is obscured, preserve the original and obtain the required additional evidence through the ordinary process rather than misdescribing what the image shows.

The booklet specifically says Eco-Scheme 1 photos show each eligible plant variety sown and its distribution across the parcel, while Eco-Scheme 3 photos show bio-mulch across the declared parcel. Those are distinct subjects. Do not recycle an image from a different scheme as if it establishes the specified feature. [^1]

## Retain agency messages with the application they concern

The booklet lists important reminders, notifications and direct communication with an ARPA officer among the app’s functions. It also describes agency verification of submitted photos and the possibility of amending an application where necessary in that monitoring process. These are features of the documented public workflow. [^1]

For the farm’s office file, identify the subject, relevant parcel, scheme and date of a message. Retain any supplied instruction with the response prepared for it. If a clarification concerns only a crop-plan detail, do not let it become an unexplained alteration of the pesticide application history.

Keep an enquiry concise and specific. Describe the screen or document heading from the publication, the crop entry and the issue requiring agency attention. Distinguish an identity/registration problem, a parcel discrepancy and a question about the scheme’s agronomic commitments. That distinction helps the receiving person understand the request without collecting unrelated documents.

## The IPM plan commitment is a separate substantive requirement

The cited CAP plan’s DP ECO-IPM section describes an IPM plan across the whole identified parcel area for at least three consecutive years. Competent individuals draft the plan, traps are installed according to it, and monitoring records cover the date, pest and number recorded, if any. The plan also describes at least three selected techniques from its listed approaches. [^2]

Those commitments explain why crop-plan administration and pest-management evidence need to remain linked. A completed crop entry does not itself describe the monitoring visit or the reasoning behind an intervention. Keep the actual plan, observation history and completed treatment records available under compatible parcel references. [^2][^3]

The [IPM monitoring guide](/mt/ipm-monitoring-sheet/) follows the observation-to-decision sequence. Use it for the legacy monitoring headings, the Directive’s IPM principles and the relationship between monitoring and evaluation. Use this page for the agency’s crop-plan and digital evidence categories. The two workflows meet at the parcel and crop, while their individual documents retain their meaning.

## Read eligibility statements within the plan version cited

The DP ECO-IPM eligibility section in version 3.1 describes active-farmer and BISS eligibility, identification of participating parcels at application, and arable or permanent-crop land maintained under the specified annual activity and good agricultural condition. It requires following the IPM plan as required by AgriConnect services for at least three consecutive years. These are provisions of the cited plan version. [^2]

Keep the actual application correspondence and applicable scheme material with the farmer’s file. Identify which parcel and commitment each document concerns. The portal does not announce an application window, payment award or individual eligibility decision. It explains the record relationships in the official documents that were read.

The plan’s commitment list specifies a total eligible committed parcel area of at least 0.04 hectares. Keep that scheme area statement distinguishable from the area actually treated in a pesticide application. One concerns the commitment described in the plan; the other describes a completed use and its measurement under the record Annex. [^2][^3]

## Connect the advisory and administrative roles

RASD describes AgriConnect as the frontline advisory service providing support including crop planning and IPM. AgriKonsulta offers field visits, tailored advice and expert knowledge focused on IPM and sustainable fertiliser use. These services can be identified in the documentary chain as the source of advice or a plan explanation. [^4]

Prepare an adviser discussion with the actual crop-plan entry, relevant parcel and monitoring sequence. Explain whether the question concerns an intended programme, an observed pest or an action already taken. Keep the resulting advice distinguishable from the agency’s administrative correspondence about the application.

For an office handover, identify which contact can explain the agronomic reasoning and which document records an agency instruction. Preserve the original issuer and title. A file labelled simply “IPM app” is less informative than an index showing crop plan, competent adviser’s plan, monitoring evidence, product-use records and scheme correspondence separately.

## A labelled documentary example

**Invented organisation exercise:** a fictional holding has two locally named parcels and a crop plan being reviewed for the published IPM workflow. Prepare a correspondence table matching each local name to its agency reference. Assign separate references to the crop entry, adviser plan, observation sheet and completed application report. The exercise supplies no real applicant, parcel number, product, dose or scheme award.

Ask a colleague to locate the crop-plan entry and explain which document records the actual use of a plant protection product. Then ask them to locate the observation that informed the decision. Record an ambiguous reference as a practical filing issue to resolve. The exercise demonstrates document relationships rather than certifying an application or simulating a live ARPA submission.

## Prepare an intelligible account enquiry

For an account enquiry, distinguish the registered identity, the mobile-number contact and the password-activation step described in the booklet. Prepare a short chronology of the difficulty and retain any acknowledgement received from the agency. Keep confidential credentials within the business’s authorised arrangements rather than adding a password or verification code to a crop-plan attachment. [^1]

For a parcel enquiry, describe the discrepancy precisely: a local nickname, the agency reference, the crop concerned and the period being discussed. Attach only the relevant supporting material through the authorised agency process. Preserve the original message and subsequent clarification together so a replacement administrator can understand the resolution.

For an agronomic enquiry, supply the observation and adviser-plan references. Avoid treating an activation problem as a pest-management question or an expected harvest date as an observation of a completed harvest. This division makes the documentary account understandable while retaining the separate crop-plan, monitoring and application information described above. [^1][^2][^3]

## Keep a usable archive after the season

Retain the published guidance used for the workflow with its date and version. Keep the farmer’s plan documents and received correspondence connected to their relevant period. Explain parcel abbreviations, name the authorised document custodian and record outstanding enquiries with an owner. Preserve a correction with its explanation so a later administrator can follow what changed.

For the legal application record, Article 67 requires professional users to keep their product-use records for at least three years. Article 4 of Regulation 2023/564 separately addresses prompt authority access and contractual-client access or copies. Keep those legal record obligations distinguishable from any particular crop-plan interface. [^5][^3]

Use the [application-fields guide](/mt/application-record-fields/) for the event information, the [electronic-record guide](/mt/electronic-pesticide-records/) for format and timing, and the [ARPA inspection guide](/mt/arpa-pesticide-inspection/) for the wider purchase, licence and storage evidence pack. The [Malta hub](/mt/) connects the complete reference set and the shared Leafwrit pre-registration route.

### BiedjaCam pesticide records?

The CAP plan’s DP ECO-IPM section requires eligible beneficiaries to use ARPA mobile apps to submit/update crop plans and PPP use. Keep the supporting application records under the EU Annex. [^2][^3]

### Free pesticide record software Malta?

ARPA’s booklet describes BiedjaCam’s public crop-plan and holding-management functions. Assess those documented functions separately from the required application-event information. [^1][^3]

### Malta spray record harvest date?

The BiedjaCam guide describes a planting date generating an editable harvest date in the crop plan. Distinguish that planning value from the actual application chronology. [^1]

### Malta IPM monitoring sheet?

The legacy ARPA Annex 10 sheet records pest observations. The CAP plan separately describes the monitoring commitments and use of ARPA mobile apps in the IPM intervention. [^6][^2]

## Sources

- [ARPA: BiedjaCam user guide, published April 2024](https://arpa.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/biedjaCamApp.pdf), read 2026-10-23
- [Malta CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027, version 3.1, DP ECO-IPM and monitoring arrangements](https://fondi.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CAPSP-MT-2023_2027_V3.1.pdf), read 2026-10-23
- [Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/564, Articles 1–5 and Annex](https://publications.europa.eu/resource/celex/32023R0564), read 2026-10-23
- [Government of Malta: Research and Advisory Services Directorate](https://ruralaffairs.gov.mt/en/the-department/research-and-advisory-services-directorate/), read 2026-10-23
- [Regulation (EC) 1107/2009, Articles 3, 55 and 67 (original EU act)](https://publications.europa.eu/resource/cellar/1ad90f5a-4dfe-4ad2-adda-e290d0e23c8b.0006.02/DOC_1), read 2026-10-23
- [ARPA: legacy AECM guidance v3.7, 5 February 2020, Annexes 9–10](https://arpa.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/aecm-2014-2022.pdf), read 2026-10-23