The act of publishing the wholesale prices of agricultural products is useless and asinine as it helps neither the farmer nor the consumer.

The solution lies in making the system totally transparent. This could be easily done by introducing traceability. The product could be made traceable from the farm to the fork. The system is already functioning and doing fine at the Ta' Qali Producer Group. Farmers can trace what has happened to their products within hours. Consumers can trace the product purchased from the TQPG outlet there and then. Products can be traced even if purchased from other outlets and tagged with its logo.

The goings on that happen at the Pitkalija to the products and the prices are aptly described by Peter Axisa as relying on hieroglyphics on a piece of paper. We have come a long way from the "taglia" of the 19th century!

The only answer to the problem of controlling that prices really reflect what the farmer gets is the introduction of bar-coding. The reduction will happen because the authorities can verify instantly what mark-up has been put on an item even if purchased a day or two later than the date it was purchased from the Pitkalija. This will also help the farmer to know what his products fetched and even the customer what the mark-up was.

The authorities know this but there is no political will to introduce it. The TQPG introduced it at a great expense but it wanted to be honest with its members and its clients. All producers organisations in Malta should adhere to the system. We are EU members now.

I was amazed to read that the Farmers' Association, through Louie Naudi, did not even dare mention the subject when he had been advocating it vehemently some years back. I appeal to Clement Azzopardi to give a break and security to the members of his Co-Op and introduce the bar-coding.

I ask the authorities, what is IT for? Dare the Department of Agriculture take the bull by the horns?

I wonder.