A €1.5 million project to help farmers and livestock breeders adequately manage nitrates was launched this morning by Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino.

The project, partly funded by the EU, will centre around an information campaign to help farmers plan the use and amounts of fertiliser, which is high in nitrates, in growing their crops.

A number of ministry officials will also visit livestock breeders to speak to them about the proper use and storage of manure.

There are more than 2,500 part and full-time farmers.

The officials will give the farmers information about nitrates and explain how their overuse was unhealthy health. They will also provide them with a kit with which to take a soil sample from their field and mix them with distilled water and chemicals provided to establish the nitrate value.

Speaking at a field in Rabat, Mr Pullicino explained that Malta had high levels of nitrates in its water table. This problem was exacerbated in the past few years because farmers would dump manure on soil and the nitrates would seek in the water table. However, farmers had now learned to store the manure property and take it through a process in which nitrates would be extracted from it.

Fertilisers also had a high level of nitrates and these testing sessions would have to be carried out once every three years to give the authorities a clear picture of the nitrate levels. Officials will work out a plan of when, how and how much fertiliser is to be used in the fields.

All the data collected would be inputted into a national data base that could also be used in planning.