Farmer organisations qualify for EU aid

The Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment, George Pullicino, said five farmer organisations have been granted recognition to receive EU aid.

Two others have applied for recognition, he said when addressing a seminar organised by the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise on agri-food online trade yesterday.

Mr Pullicino, who was speaking on the restructuring process in agriculture, insisted that one of the routes to be followed in this re-structuring is the strengthening of Malta's existing export potential where agri-food products are concerned and to establish new overseas markets for niche products.

He said a case in point is the transformation which has taken place in the potato export trade, where the former considerable state participation has been reduced to a regulatory role, thus opening the way for entrepreneurs to explore new market possibilities.

This is already bearing fruit and this year Malta potatoes have been exported to Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and Croatia, besides the traditional and well established Dutch market.

"We are also actively supporting initiatives which have the aim of promoting the export of niche products, especially those having a traditional Maltese character, such as sheep and goat's cheeselets and sun-dried tomatoes.

"The European Community has an established quality policy for the recognition of such products through classification as Protected Designation of Origin and Protected Geographical Indication and this classification system is now open to local producers.

"The achievement of PDO or PGI certification for Maltese agri-food products will give added impetus to the establishment of an overseas market for such products," he said.