Farmers clash with government over safeguard clause

Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino is expected to meet farmers on December 16 after a vociferous protest by irate farmers outside the ministry on Monday afternoon.

The main bone of contention is the agricultural safeguard clause negotiated with the EU which, farmers are insisting, should be implemented "immediately".

The farmers, who claim local production has dwindled by close to three per cent due to flooding of the market by imported fruit and vegetables, said the government had "deceived" them in the run-up to EU accession because it was refusing to implement the safeguard clause.

The government, on the other hand, argues that the clause can only be granted by the European Commission upon Malta's request and was not an "automatic" mechanism. Speaking to The Times, a ministry spokesman said yesterday the Commission would only grant the clause if Malta made a very strong claim backed up by data showing there was "serious distortion" of the market.

Writing to Farmers' Association secretary Peter Axisa on Monday, Mr Pullicino and Agriculture and Fisheries Parliamentary Secretary Francis Agius said: "This had been made clear in your presence by EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel when she visited Malta".

The government said yesterday it was keeping its promise to dish out subsidies to farmers. About 2,200 farmers will receive Lm850,000 for the January to November 2005 period.

About Lm10 million have also been given to Maltese farmers in the past year under the Special Market Policy Programme for Maltese Agriculture (SMPPMA), under the Rural Development Plan, in subsidies given to full-time farmers and in the form of funds which Malta is eligible to as a less-favoured area, the government said. At this point in time, the government thinks the statistics do not justify asking for the application of the safeguard clause.

"We think otherwise," Mr Axisa told The Times. He insisted that what was negotiated with the European Union and subsequently inserted in the accession treaty was not what the government had told the farmers.

"If I knew what was really going on during negotiations, I would not have told farmers we had a good package," Mr Axisa said.

There are other teething problems which are getting in the way of local producers, Mr Axisa said.

One issue, which is also being investigated by the government, is the rumour that imported produce is finding its way into the Pitkali, the Ta' Qali fruit and vegetable market. Currently, Maltese farmers receive subsidies for the amount of produce they sell at the Ta' Qali market.

Mr Axisa said that if imported fruit and vegetables were finding their way into the Ta' Qali market, such imported produce would not only bring down the prices of locally grown crops but it would also be taking government subsidies budgeted for Maltese producers.

The government said it was "aware of the existence of problems" and was doing its utmost to address them.

One of the government's expressed purposes behind an ongoing reform in the sector is to give farmers increased control at the Ta' Qali fruit and vegetable market as this would "ensure a sustainable future".