Maltese agriculture at the limits

It is very sad to observe that the sustained lack of strategy in agriculture management, now stretching over a number of decades, is pushing the industry to very dangerous limits from which recovery would be very difficult if not impossible. The strategy vacuum is most evident in the inefficiency of the local market structure for agricultural produce and the consequent lack of modern market-skills of Maltese farmers, skills that are fundamental for the survival of the industry.

The historical development of agriculture is at the same time a fascinating story and a metric by which to measure the development of a country's agricultural policy. On such a scale, Maltese policy is not very far-off from having left the semi-subsistence era for town market dynamics. All stakeholders within the industry are to a varying extent responsible for this situation, but particularly the political elite has much to answer for. Policy mediocrity and pass-the-burden attitude have plagued the industry for at least the past four decades with the silent consent of operators, as long as they were artificially protected.

Then came the issue of European Union membership. This could have been looked at in one of two ways, either as a spur to move the long-time-lethargic political elite or as the swansong of the industry. Two years on it is sad to note that the spur dimension has not materialised and the political elite and their devotees bicker endlessly on trivial matters and irrelevantly structured surveys while the industry is ailing. The party in government pretends that Maltese farmers should make a more than quantum leap from town market practices to a highly complex and dynamic EU/ international agriculture policy and market structure whilst the opposition's best offer is to reinstate the unsustainable protected town market system amidst blatant short sightedness. All this mess stinks of incompetence.  

In the meantime, because of this mess, Maltese farmers have in general not grasped the forces that are and will increasingly affect the sustainability of their activity. Some are still hoping to return to the comfort of market protection while others seem deceived by the subsidy structures. This lack of a realistic understanding of the industry is logically encouraged by the lack of a national vision for the same industry.

One fundamental issue is the complete absence of a regulated and managed supply chain that safeguards the existence of small-holding farmers and the consumer alike. While in the short term this may be seen to alleviate the difficulties of "some" farmers, however in the long term this would spell the demise of agriculture in Malta. To make matters worse their seems to be a complete absence of policies and regulations governing the establishment of retail entities intrinsically involved in the distribution of agricultural produce, often to the detriment of the unorganised and commercially ignorant farmer. This is surely not an easy policy to develop and, in cognisance of the policy effort so far, it is even more complicated.

While it is encouraging to read of the commendable-efforts of some operators, whose love for the land and resilience encourages them to face the difficult odds straight in the eyes, such efforts will encounter serious difficulties in terms of returns and long-term sustainability unless they are supported by a decent policy framework. Unfortunately, there is no sign of it.