A motion that Parliament unanimously approved on Thursday makes it possible for an agricultural lease to be given to the tenant’s brothers, sisters, nephews or nieces.

This applies after the tenant dies or decides to decides to retire.

Introducing the motion, Minister Jason Azzopardi said for more than a century the practice had been that agricultural leases could change hands only from father to son or vice-versa, but never horizontally to siblings.

This meant that when a bachelor farmer died without heirs after scores of years of the family tending the land, the lease had to be returned to the Government.

For the first time a definition was being given to a “professional farmer he or she would have to be registered as a full-time farmer with the Employment and Training Corporation; have a turnover of not less than €20,000 a year, calculated over the last three years; and be a member of an agricultural cooperative or producers’ organisation.

The resolution would affect only Government-owned land, which made up more than 60 per cent of Maltese agricultural territory. It would not affect privately owned land.

Parliamentary Assistant Philip Mifsud said the farmer’s relatives would have the right to pay the agricultural lease (qbiela) for public land to continue the activity. This was the right thing to do because farmers invested in the land and their heirs would now continue to benefit from them.

The transfer of land could be made possible during the farmer’s lifetime to avoid litigation among heirs after death.

Mr Mifsud spoke on the need that farmers qualifying for the scheme had to have annual sales amounting to at least €20,000 per year. He said this was necessary because there were people who registered as farmers with the ETC for convenience’s sake. He suggested also considering part-time farmers with such a turnover and extending the scheme to youngsters willing to undertake this economic activity.

Ċensu Galea (PN) spoke of the need for private owners to also check abuses on agricultural land. He noted that full-time farmers registered with the Land Department were not necessarily registered with the ETC.

He called for the condition that farmers had to be in a farmers’ or producers’ association or a cooperative to be removed. He also asked for reconsideration of another condition that excluded income from wine and oil pressing.

Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino said the Government sought to make agricultural land more accessible, even to young farmers. The Government was not excluding implementing such a concept for part-time farmers, and it was opting for the €20,000 threshold following an agreement with stakeholders.

This amendment was only one of the Government’s policies on agriculture. It would announce new schemes in the near future giving more incentives to young farmers.

The minister said there were 19,000 active people in the agricultural sector in 2010, who had produced 72,000 tons of fruit and vegetables.

Mr Pullicino said the Maltese consumer had benefited from EU membership, as there was a range of products to choose from. Meanwhile, the Maltese product was competing successfully against foreign products.

Winding up the debate, Minister Azzopardi said that since joining the EU, farming in Malta made a quantum leap forward. The Government would have given €100 million for agricultural purposes between 2007 and 2013. Yet Labour pre-EU referendum billboards stated that Malta would only receive €1.5 million from the EU.