Almost 90 per cent of total land declared by farmers, or 11,689 hectares, was utilised for agriculture, the National Statistics Office said.

It said 9,427 (75.6 per cent) of agricultural holdings in Malta and Gozo had a utilised agricultural area (UAA) of less than one hectare.

Medium-sized agricultural holdings (one to five hectares) made up 22 per cent of the total and 2.4 per cent were considered large, each having a minimum of five hectares of UAA.

Arable land accounted for 76.7 per cent of the total UAA, while permanent crops and kitchen gardens made up the remaining 10.8 and 12.5 per cent respectively.

The cultivation of fodder plants (59 per cent) was predominant in the tenure of arable land.

1,264 hectares of UAA comprised plantations, of which 54 per cent was dedicated to vineyard cultivation. Fruit and berry plantations, mainly peaches, amounted to 30.5 per cent of total permanent crops, while citrus, olive and nurseries accounted for 7.1, 8.2 and 0.2 per cent respectively.

As at September 1, the total cattle population amounted to 14,949 heads, of which 6,239, or 41.7 per cent, were dairy cows. The pig population amounted to 51,641 heads, while sheep and goat stocks numbered 9,916 and 4,032 heads respectively. A total 0.9 million poultry heads were registered, of which 67.2 and 32.4 per cent were broilers and laying hens respectively.

The agricultural labour force was made up of 19,066 persons, or 5,044 annual work units.

Part-time employment amounted to 17,693 persons (92.8 per cent), while 1,372 persons (7.2 per cent) worked on a full-time basis.