Need for new vision for Maltese agriculture

The Rural Development Plan says it is becoming increasingly clear that the Maltese farming population is aging rapidly and that there are fewer young farmers coming through to replace them.

The situation is worse for part-time farmers than it is for full-time farmers. There has been an almost total collapse in the number of part-time farmers in the 20-29 age bracket, and the 30-39 bracket is almost as bad.

The report, which has not yet been published, was drawn up by the Rural Development Plan Unit within the Ministry of Agriculture, with support from Cranfield University. It has been co-financed by the UK.

While the rural economy featured in Malta's development planning, a rural development plan was never formulated. This is therefore the first major rural development plan in Malta.

The plan shows that the most relevant threat to the survival of Maltese agriculture in the coming years is its present condition in which Maltese agriculture supplies consumers with high-priced and low-quality products.

However, the plan departs from a number of studies which had previously concluded that the present situation of Maltese agriculture was largely unsustainable regardless of EU accession.

Agriculture Ministry permanent secretary Philip von Brockdorff said an extensive consultation exercise was carried out before the plan was finalised and that measures proposed by the grassroots had been taken on board.

"I can confirm that extensive talks and serious consultations were made with different representatives of farmers."

Dr von Brockdorff said the plan was proposing the necessary measures for the agriculture sector to restructure itself.

"There was an urgent need for a rural plan. This is the first of its nature and goes into details of how agriculture can be revived."

He explained that the plan was not the final blueprint.

"The plan is now in the hands of EU negotiators. We are still expecting their reaction and shall be meeting with farmers' representatives to confirm the details."

Dr von Brockdorff said the measures highlighted in the plan would be implemented with co-financing from EU funds.

At the moment, the agriculture ministry is focusing on administrative capacity to strengthen the recently set-up Rural Development Plan Unit.

Dr von Brockdorff said the report lists concrete measures which will be taken to revive the sector, including processing and marketing programmes and projects, investment in agricultural holdings, others aimed to increase training for young farmers, and specific programmes for adaptation and development of rural areas.

The report gives a comprehensive insight into the situation in the agricultural sector. It says that agricultural land in Malta accounts for around 11,000 hectares.

Agricultural land in the Maltese islands is classified into different categories, including dry farmed land, which is land that depends exclusively on rainwater for irrigation; and irrigated land, which is land that is irrigated by water from sources other than rainwater, and wasteland, which is a term used to describe all non-productive registered agricultural land.

The total agricultural land is on the decline while available irrigated land is on the increase, it says.

The report says that in the period from 1963 to 2001, 37 per cent of available agricultural land has been lost to urbanisation and other land use - a total of over 6,300 hectares. The report says that the area of land covered by buildings has increased at a fast rate over the last half-century. Encouragingly, the take-up of undeveloped land has slowed over the last few years.

The recorded agricultural land is managed by 11,400 land tenants of whom 974 and 10,426 were found to be full-time and part-time farmers respectively.

Most farm tenants - 42.6 per cent - are over 60. 46.7 per cent of all land tenants are between 40 and 60 while 10.7 per cent of all recorded land tenants are under 40.

It is clear that fewer and fewer people will become farmers unless substantial changes are made to make farming a more attractive livelihood.

The only age group showing an increase in full-time farming employment is that for those 60 or over and that for part-time farming being 70 or over.

The report says that the figures for farmers under 40 make sober reading: only 10.7 per cent of the total farming population is under 40. The figure for Malta is 11.4 per cent of the farming population, but only 8.6 per cent in Gozo.

The amount of agricultural land in the Maltese islands was provisionally established at 10,738 hectares; a drop of 396 hectares when compared with the 1991 census. The amount of dry agricultural land decreased by 763 hectares to 8,240.4 hectares when compared with 1991.

The report says that two-thirds of the land in Malta is now owned by the state and the remaining third by the private sector. However, only a low percentage of agricultural land is farmer-owned.

The government has retained ownership of a substantial amount of agricultural land to ensure that it is not utilised for other purposes. However, effective planning control - as is now being exercised by the Planning Authority - would remove the need for the government to retain ownership.

The report says that privatisation of agricultural land would be an attractive option as farmers would tend to invest more in their private property rather than in land held on tenure.

The report, known as the RDP, stresses that there is need for a new vision for Maltese agriculture. The vision is of the sustainable development of rural Malta in a manner which leads to its increased economic competitiveness in a demand-driven, international market system, but in a context which takes into account its environmental, social and cultural dimensions and their importance to the Maltese way of life.

The RDP says that this vision must be tempered by an understanding of the major issues facing Maltese farming:

¤ An aging population - with Malta's young people faced with a very wide range of well-paying, service and manufacturing industry employment which offers a very attractive alternative to the rigorousness and uncertainty of farming life.

¤ An increasing fragmentation of farm holdings caused by Malta's inheritance laws;

¤ Greater financial opportunities - both legal and illegal - available to farmers for non-farming use of their land.

In the short-term, the RDP's objectives include reducing further salination of the water table; increasing the level of environmental awareness and responsibility among farmers; limiting soil erosion; increasing competitiveness of farmers by developing a niche agricultural strategy for specific quality products; and developing multifunctional agricultural activities.

In the medium-term, the RDP aims to reduce loss of land to tourism, industry and housing and to reduce the rate of decline in the number of full-time farmers.

The RDP says that the significance of agriculture to Malta is neither economic nor employment related but lies rather in maintaining the landscape and cultural tradition.

It highlights the fact that Maltese agriculture cannot be sustained without a dramatic improvement in both competitiveness and quality.

The national priority is to facilitate the development of a dynamic, competitive and sustainable rural economy. The government's key national priority of developing competitive and modern agriculture will be attained if, first, farmers can gain a fair price paid for their products by consumers, including tourists.

The report says that upon accession Malta will have access to structural and other agricultural funds - an opportunity which Maltese agriculture has never had in the past.