There is yet a chance that local fruit tree species currently falling prey to pests, such as fig and berry trees, may be saved by replanting healthy seeds, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture Roderick Galdes said in Parliament.

He was answering a question by Toni Bezzina (PN), who had asked about the Micropropagation Centre at Tal-Kmand.

Mr Galdes said the Plant Health Directorate was working on a five-year plan of conservation of agricultural plants that bore economic or cultural importance.

Work was also being done on extending the diagnostic laboratories and constructing a new laboratory dedicated to seed quality and the continuation of cloning of local citrus varieties. The project was done in collaboration with Nature Trust and financed by the Regional Development Programme for Malta 2007-13.

In recent years, the Plant Health Directorate was in close contact with the Istituto Agronomico Mediterraneo within the International Centre for High-Level Mediterranean Agronomic Studies.