Government pitting consumers against farmers - Sant

Opposition Leader Alfred Sant said yesterday that the government was trying to set consumers against farmers in the current debate over levies on agricultural produce.

He insisted that the potential of Maltese farmers had to be protected, while the low prices on their produce should reach the consumer.

Dr Sant was visiting the fields owned by the Galeas in Burmarrad, together with the Opposition spokesman on agriculture Noel Farrugia.

He said EU membership would see Malta lift levies on imported produce which local farmers also produced, while introducing new ones on the products Maltese farmers did not grow. It was, thus, a case of protecting only European farmers.

Without protection, farming in Malta did not have a future, Dr Sant said.

He described the subsidies that would be offered to farmers as "smoke" and added that important technical assistance to farmers had deteriorated over the last few years.

Mr Farrugia said farmers and their associations did not know where they stood and what was going on.

Replying, the Nationalist Party said the government would be giving Lm70 million in assistance to farmers while consumers would enjoy lower prices as a result of the lifting of the levies.

The assistance that would be given to farmers would help make them more competitive.

The former Labour government would also have lifted agriculture levies but it never promised financial assistance to farmers, the PN said.