Saving seeds from local plants may hold the key for the future survival of Malta’s food crops.

This came out at a seminar on safeguarding traditional strains of seeds from fruits, vegetables and herbs.

The National Hub for Ethno-botanical Research (NHER) within the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society recently made a recommendation for unused agricultural land, tools and seeds to be made available to anyone looking for these resources.

The pressure of the market on farmers to grow what most consumers demand can discourage creative experimentation with traditional varieties. Farmers practising seed conservation are not compensated for risk.

Seeds contain the life energy that allows the food chain to continue.

Part of the problem is a lack of knowledge on the part of the consumer, the seminar heard. For example, if a local strain of potato more suited to baking is bought with the intention of making fried chips, the buyer will not be satisfied with the result. Better labelling would limit the misunderstandings which could lead to high-quality local baking potatoes being dismissed by consumers.

At the launch of the study results, President Marie-Louse Coleiro encouraged young farmers to take up the challenge of growing traditional varieties and urged the government to support them.

We create the conditions to rediscover the joy of cultivating Maltese cultural vegetables and plants that fed our ancestors while rediscovering ourselves anew

One of the proposals is for the upcoming rural development plan of Malta (post-2020) to include financial payouts to farmers cultivating heirloom or landrace crops. By involving the community, risk to the farmer is further reduced.

Mapping of localities where studies on endemic plants and wild varieties can be found should allow open access so that those interested could contribute and learn from each other. 

Wild plants and herbs were a valuable resource exploited by our ancestors for their own health and survival. Some of these “heirloom” species can still be found today, living on under nature’s care alone when the elements allow it. 

In remaining in wild and agricultural spaces, the seeds of some traditionally used Maltese plants still regenerate from one season to the next. Others have been kept going by individual farmers who collect vegetable seeds and replant them year after year.

As NHER chairman Mario Gerada explains: “We create the conditions to rediscover the joy of cultivating Maltese cultural vegetables and plants that fed our ancestors while rediscovering ourselves anew.”

Traditional varieties of local fruits, tomatoes, potatoes, herbs, etc. are known as ‘landrace’”. Over time they adapted to meet the changes of climate and domestication. Although yields may not be as high, the stability of these plants in adverse conditions is superior.  

Food has been grown from genetically diverse seeds around the world for thousands of years. However, this genetic resource suffered a decline when large corporations began breeding crops identical in size and colour.

Relying on plants bred or engineered for the market brought consequences. Remaining traits of resilience in the plant’s gene reservoir were locked in forgotten heirloom and landrace species, in danger of disappearing.

Inbred or cloned crops may lack resilience to a new pest or disease which can lead to famine. One such episode has been the 2009 failure of a genetically-modified corn crop in South Africa.

Migrants play a notable part in the cultivation of varieties new to Malta. The Filipino community, among others, grows its own vegetables here. The culinary taste for fresh vegetables in the Asian diet is being met with locally grown pak choi and other homegrown garden crops.

Researcher Simone Cutajar cautioned that introduced plants should be carefully controlled. A balanced approach, she said, was needed to discover which new plants might work in the Maltese climate without posing any threat to local ecosystems. 

With climate change an encroaching challenge to food security worldwide, caring and sharing traditionally adaptive seeds helps reclaim Malta’s plant gene heritage.