The other side of the Pitkali crates saga

Resources and Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino in his regular contribution to The Times (January 31) has tried to hide his failure to do something useful for the farmers by saying the situation regarding the inefficient service of the washing of the crates was the fault of Pitkali Crates Ltd, which has been rendering this service for over 20 years.

This non-profit-making company has as its shareholders the Farmers’ Union, the Pitkala Union and Green Hawkers Union. This is by way of Legal Notice 54 of 1989. Everything was going fine till the government intervened in 2005 and without consultation reduced the working area of the company by 90 per cent. The consequences that were to follow were clearly indicated to the ministry in a letter dated May 2, 2005 by the then chairman of Pitkali Crates, Peter Axisa.

Previous to the reduction of space, 15,000 clean crates were available daily. The company was allocated an area that reduced production crates from 10,000 a day to some 3,000. The weekly demand is more than 25,000. The farmers could not do without crates washed and started a weekly rampage for crates even taking them direct from hawkers. The minister was aware of this but took no action.

The reason behind the mud throwing exercise at Pitkali Crates now in full swing is to hide the inefficiency of the ministry in the agricultural section. The company has always had its accounts, managed by no less than Austin Walker, audited and no mishandling of moneys was ever found. For the last two years, the auditor could not close the accounts because the ministry did not give it the figure of the moneys due to it by law.

The area in question is not in conformity with health and safety regulations. Contrary to what the minister stated, the health authorities inspected the cleaned crates and found them adequate. The lack of space caused production to fall to less than 20 per cent of the daily needs of the farming community. The company was told to wash 1,000 a day, when the demand is for 25,000 a week.

The ministry cannot even use a calculator. On January 31, in about an hour, all the new crates the ministry had available for farmers were taken up. The stock of 2,000 clean crates at Pitkali Crates were snapped up too. The unsatisfied farmers left the Pitkalija with their mouths full of expletives.

Mr Pullicino has always been known as a politician of words but not of action. Could he please tell us what he did to ameliorate things in the Pitkalija since he took office? According to EU law, he should have introduced, but did not, the traceability and grading of products. The Pitkalija covered by asbestos still exists. The only work the ministry has done was to shrink the premises of Pitkali Crates and make it incapable of offering the services it used to render.

Mr Pullicino will now issue a tender for some company to take over the washing of the crates. The company that takes over will do so for a profit while Pitkali Crates was a non-profit outfit. Will the broken crates be replaced?

In the agriculture sector, Mr Pullicino has been and still is a big flop. Creating parks and mini forests is all very well but that is not agriculture,