When consumers choose to buy organic products, they need to know that they are getting exactly what they paid for.

The ‘Euro-leaf’ label (yellow stars in a leaf shape on green) is now obligatory for organic food produced in any EU member state. Private, regional or national logos which may have preceded the leaf symbol can still bedisplayed alongside.

Conventional farmers must undergo a minimum conversion period of two years before they can begin producing agricultural goods that can be marketed as organic. Any produce sold during this time is identified as being ‘under conversion’. If both conventional and organic crops are being produced, then operations must be clearly separated through every stage of production.

After two years, successful operators can be granted certification and have their goods labelled as organic.

Any terms such as ‘organic’, ‘bio’, ‘eco’, and so forth, including wording used in trademarks, or practices used in advertising liable to mislead the consumer by suggesting that a product orits ingredients satisfy therequirements set out under the regulations, are not allowed for non-organic products.

The logo and labelling system help the consumer feel confident that goods are produced according to EU organic farming standards – or in the case of imported goods, an equivalent or identical strict set of rules.

At an event organised by the Malta Organic Agriculture Movement (MOAM) last week in Kirkop, some members of the organic community and representatives of certifying bodies (Malta Standards Authority – MSA, Biozoo Ltd and the Ministry of Resources and Rural Affairs’ organic unit) exchanged views. MOAM president Mario Salerno guided the discussion.

Participating regularly in expert meetings at the Council of Europe and represented on a number of European committees (DG Sanco, DG Agri), MOAM finds that its research-based opinions are taken very seriously at EU level. Despite being influential in decisions taken in the European agricultural sector, representation with authorities on a local level has been a struggle to achieve.

On the other hand, there has been lack of organised participation from producers, while some farmers find the €350 yearly fee for MSA certification an added burden.

One drawback, as pointed out by Joseph Buhagiar, director of the University section of the Argotti botanic gardens, is fragmented ownership of small parcels of land.

Buhagiar, who practises organic farming and lectures at the Department of Biology, said: “If group certification for holdings close to each other could get around this, then it would be an important step to help relieve the financial burden on farmers who are trying to go organic.”

He added that this system would help create a core area for organic agriculture with the outer holdings acting as buffer and transition zones to conventional agriculture.

Feedback from Maltese organic farmers is needed to put across their views and help form policy.

Among points raised during the open discussion at Kirkop local council was the possibility of a representative of organic producers being present as a stakeholder on the MSA pesticides board.

The authority has been made responsible for market surveillance of “everything on the market” but suffers greatly from a proper lack of resources to carry this out.

Problems with crop pests come about when the ecosystem is unbalanced. In a vicious cycle, the application of pesticides often makes the imbalances worse in the long run.

Some plant protection products (as pesticides are sometimes called) have been found to cause serious damage to people and soil.

When asked if a particularly obnoxious pesticide would continue to be imported into Malta, the MSA representative at the meeting replied it was a free market.

Every EU country is obliged to draw up a list of plant-protection products that can be used locally. Every single one has to be registered with the plant-protection section.

The incidence of unprotected spraying and use of pesticides coinciding with harvest time was also raised at the Kirkop meeting.

Buhagiar called on the MSA for random tests to be carried out on all farm produce for sale – both those produced locally and imported – insisting that testing should not be done solely on an ad hoc basis.

“Only then can we start moving towards greater consumer confidence in local agricultural produce and entice others to take up organic agriculture,” he said.

Engineer Francis Farrugia of the MSA rebutted that checks on products were obligatory, and if in excess of permitted trace levels then more frequent checks would follow. There is no accredited laboratory in Malta, so products have to be sent abroad to check if they are fit for human consumption, entailing latency and delays.

Farrugia added that a training course on the use of pesticides was being held in Gozo. Anyone buying pesticides, including sellers, needed to show their ID card, and a refresher course was being held every three years followed by exams.

Concern over traces of pesticide reaching the aquifer is not new. Vulnerability of Malta’s aquifers to leaching has been recognised for decades. It is only in the past two years that the MSA has been handed the regulation baton. A list of revoked pesticides appeared on the authority’s website last month.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.