Land given to wine production has expanded by over 200 hectares, to 550 hectares, since the government launched its subsidy scheme for farmers last year.

Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino said that following negotiations with the EU the government was aiming for 1,000 hectares of land growing vines for wine production.

"There was such an encouraging flow of applications from farmers wishing to use their land for this purpose, that if we continue at this rate we could optimistically reach our target within three years," Mr Pullicino said.

The scheme provides farmers with Lm450 for every tumolo of land that they turn to viticulture - about 580 vines can be grown on one tumolo.

During a visit to the Emmanuel Delicata Winery in Marsa, Mr Pullicino encouraged more farmers to come forward and benefit from this scheme which will remain open indefinitely.

He was taken on a tour of the winery by the company's managing director, George Delicata, who announced that the winery was planning to expand by setting up a red wine tank farm.

The winery was recently given two-and-a-half tumoli of land by the government for the tank farm which will be used to conduct different fermentation processes.

Mr Delicata said Malta currently imported 70 per cent of the grapes, mostly from Italy, for local wine production and he hoped the target of 1,000 hectares of land would be reached in the very near future.

"Despite the island's size, 1,000 hectares translates into just 8.5 per cent of agricultural land, so I cannot see why this target cannot be reached," he said. Mr Delicata stressed the importance of the local industry, appealing to consumers to check a wine's country of origin before buying it.

Over Lm6 million worth of wine is consumed each year in Malta.

Emmanuel Delicata Winery, which employs 90 people, produces 25,000 hecto-litres of wine per year.

When asked about the possibilities of exports, Mr Delicata said Malta hardly produced enough quantities for the local market, let alone for the foreign market.

"The problem we have today is that we don't have enough land given to vines. We hope this situation will be redressed."

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