Bright prospects for quality organic crops

Gozo can be the cradle as well as the showcase for quality organic agricultural products, according to Agriculture Minister George Pullicino.

Although over the past year the land being tilled for organic produce has grown from three to 16 hectares, the awareness among the public of the benefits of organic fruit and vegetables is still low.

By the end of this year organic products will carry a certificate of authentification.

The minister was speaking at the end of a tour in Gozo when he visited a number of growers and a plant which preserves fruit and will soon launch a lemon liquor as well as a new brand of olive oil.

There are so far 20 growers producing organic produce, including four in Gozo.

One of the most important factors in organic farming is that the fields should be surrounded by trees as breakers to shield the organically grown produce from airborne chemicals used in nearby fields.

George Carbone, director general of the Department of Agriculture, said that although the yield from fields treated organically is less than fields were chemicals as pesticides and as fertilisers are applied, the price obtained for organic fruit and vegetables is higher.

Growers producing organic vegetables plant a variety of crops in order to create a wider bio-diversity which would serve as a natural pest control.

A grower specialising in the production of oranges has found two main ways to control pests. One is to grow oranges with a thick skin making it much more difficult for insects to penetrate the fruit and secondly to shower the trees with underground water early in the morning. The low water temperature kills the larvae of various pests.

Mr Pullicino explained that the ministry was offering financial assistance to growers to change over to organic farming. The ministry is also bringing over Italian experts to assist Maltese and Gozitan growers.

Visiting the newly set up firm Gozo Cottage in Xewkija, Mr Pullicino urged the producers to add labels to their products listing the contents and the provenance of the goods in order to be able to export to the EU and be readily acceptable in new markets.

Gozo Cottage sells preserved vegetables and fruits and have just introduced on the local market a lemon-based liquor called Limuncell of Gozo.

The company has installed a plant for the pressing of olives and is contracting farmers to plant about 15,000 olive trees by providing them with technical aid among other help.

A telephone survey conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment revealed that although the majority of respondents did not know what organic foods stood for they would be prepared to spend more on them once their benefits were explained.

Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono said the results of the survey indicated that there was a demand by the public to get to know more about the benefits of consuming organically grown produce.