Labour vision on agriculture poor - ministry

The Rural Affairs Ministry yesterday labelled Labour's draft vision statement on agriculture and fisheries as poor and lacking any real vision.

The ministry said the document showed that Labour had still not realised what EU membership meant.

The document made reference to proposals and national programmes without ever saying what they were. It did not say whether these programmes were compliant with EU regulations, or whether these programmes were the ones negotiated by the current government.

Labour claimed it would raise the income of farmers without saying how. Would it repeal the subsidies introduced by the government, which it had criticised? Would it curtail agricultural imports from EU countries, in violation of EU rules?

While Labour had criticised the government's campaign in favour of Maltese produce, now it was saying it would do the same, the ministry observed. It was shameful, the ministry added, that Labour had not mentioned potato exports, an important sector of agriculture. Neither had it mentioned the Eurepgap Certification process just introduced to guarantee good prices.

Indeed the Labour document lacked reference to many important sectors, the ministry observed.

It was surprising that Labour was also proposing to move the fish market, without saying why and how.

The ministry said the document lacked ideas and offered nothing tangible to farmers and fishermen.