Opposition spokesman on agriculture Anthony Agius Decelis told Parliament the sector was not really as central to Government policy as so frequently stated.

The Government was not giving the combined sector its due importance, and this was reflected in the “demotion” from a separate ministry to the current department lost within a big ministry.

Mr Agius Decelis said the Opposition’s declared policy was clear: a political person would be made specifically responsible for it. This was because Labour cared about a decent living for farmers and their families and about sustainable agriculture.

The Government’s policy had not got future generations to show an interest in agriculture.

Too many problems had gone disregarded and promises not kept. These included the abattoir, transferring of emphyteusis, vegetable market, bad roads, and lack of a grading station and freezers.

Farmers had to pay €1 a day on every three-phase meter they kept for fields. Because the amounts they used were small, farmers and breeders had to pay high prices for animal feed and pesticide.

Over the past eight years Maltese farmers had lost 28 per cent of their income while their counterparts in Romania and Hungary increased it. More recently, pork breeders had to compete with imported products injected with 30 per cent saline solution.

Mr Agius Decelis asked why the same benefits could not be accorded to part-time farmers and Mcast students.

Noel Farrugia (PL) said farmers and agro-industrialists had for years complained that while production costs increased, their income decreased.

Pork producers had had to buy a grading machine and chillers because the Government did not provide these at the abattoir. Farmers were still grading pro-ducts at their own expense.

Mr Farrugia asked on what criteria the €20,000 threshold was set.

One also had to keep in mind that the situation in Gozo was different, and it was important to analyse how many farmers could reach the threshold imposed.