Labour insists on more help for farmers

The Labour Party has published a position paper on farming in Malta, which is in line with its pre-election policies while recognising the country's "new reality" as a member of the European Union, MLP leader Alfred Sant announced yesterday.

The position paper reiterates that farmers are facing hardship, and are not receiving enough assistance from the government in terms of back-up for their operations and support to obtain special treatment, Dr Sant said.

The MLP is committed, through its MEPs in Brussels and its efforts in Parliament, to work towards finding niches of protection for farmers to ensure that the agricultural sector does not continue to decline, but would, at least, remain where it is and start growing again.

Dr Sant said the MLP was reaffirming its promises to agriculture and farmers, based on protection and security. The points it had proposed prior to the elections remained valid and the plan was still aimed at guaranteeing protection and security, restructuring and competitiveness, the organisation in terms of permits and licences, and the financing of the sector.

It also planned to issue guidelines aimed at achieving the deserved revenue for the families of farmers, herdsmen and fishermen; the safeguarding of employment in the field of agro-industry and the creation of more jobs; rural development that is compatible with the protection of the natural heritage; and the generation of sustainable and economically viable investment.

The position paper also states that Maltese farmers and herdsmen are disadvantaged in their race against their foreign counterparts, who have been receiving assistance to restructure and update their production systems for years.

Dr Sant pointed out that, under EU membership, the means of sustaining farmers is no longer through protection, but through subsidies. The latest statistics show that while last year subsidies for farmers amounted to 3.5 per cent of their revenue, today they amount to 14 per cent.

"Instead of becoming more autonomous, farmers have become more dependent on subsidies."

The problem is these are temporary and, therefore, one had to see how to protect farmers when they are removed.

Moreover, they entail heightened bureaucracy, Dr Sant said, adding that the fear is that the subsidy system can cause the "smaller" farmers to be swept away from the market, as was the case in the rest of the EU.

The position paper also deals with the tenure of land, insisting that farmers are guaranteed tenures of 30 years.

"In the last five years, farmers have had to register their property three times and nothing has been done," Dr Sant said. The situation needs to be regularised so that they can have "a base of stable property" from where they can work.