Farmers have called for more enforcement to weed out a minority of practitioners who are ruining the image of fresh local produce by dumping slurry on their agricultural fields.

Times of Malta asked a number of farmers and their representatives for their reaction following claims that news of slurry use was damaging the sector.

Most said sales had not been hit but all agreed enforcement would help protect their reputation.

Over the last month, Times of Malta has reported cases of some farmers illegally paying bowsers to dump liquid manure, collected from animal farms, on to their agricultural fields to spur plant growth. The Ombudsman’s office is investigating the problem.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Konrad Mizzi confirmed in Parliament this week that 19 public complaints about the practice had been received from across Malta and Gozo.

Ta’ Qali Producers Group CEO Peter Axisa said: “I have had personal experiences of the unpleasant smells of slurry dumping on the fields not far away from us.

“I cannot understand why this is still going on because when I was a member of the Development Control Commission Mepa Board, all farmers had to become compliant with EU regulations.”

Financial aid for the upgrading of animal farms was conditional on farms becoming compliant with EU regulations. If not, these farms had to be shut down.

“In my opinion, most farmers are now compliant and those remaining should be helped to become compliant,” Mr Axisa said.

“My concern is that even those who have invested in the proper cesspits could be abusing the system to save time and money.”

John Gauci, president of the Farmers’ Central Co-operative Society (FCCS), said bad practices such as the use of slurry were a thing of the past, as most farmers abided by regulations.

Yet he added: “They should just be investigated and action taken against them. They are the exception, not the rule.”

The FCCS represents more than 26 per cent of the products sold at Pitkali. Mr Gauci said the sale of local produce had not diminished. In fact, the news could be positive in the long run.

He said: “Rest assured that now, after all this fuss, nobody will dare to abuse the system this year.

“Before, some may have considered it but now they won’t.”

A Mġarr farmer who preferred to remain anonymous stressed that the law needed to apply equally to all – that enforcement cannot be strong with the weak and weak with the strong.

The farmer expressed no surprise that rules were flouted but said sales were the same.

But it is a different story for Pawlu Camilleri, who runs a stall at the Farmers’ Market in Ta’ Qali.

He is from Burmarrad, where initial news of the story spread, and said his business was affected.

“Once they learn I am from Burmarrad, they leave the vegetables there. But I am not using slurry on my fields.

“Those farmers who abuse the system need to be investigated because we are all getting the blame,” he said.

It is not every farmer in Burmarrad who implements bad farming practices, and neither is the use of slurry on agricultural fields limited to that area.

Information about public complaints on slurry use released by the Health Ministry shows reports were received from Magħtab, Naxxar, Salina, Burmarrad, Birżebbuġa and Marsascala.

In Gozo, reports came from Xewkija, Xagħra, Victoria, Għarb, Marsalforn and Għajnsielem.

These reports can be taken as only an indication of the extent of the practice, but they support statements by the Ombudsman confirming the illegal practice is geographically widespread.

Rest assured that now, after all this fuss, nobody will dare to abuse the system this year

The dumping of slurry on agricultural fields is banned because the whole country is classified as a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone.

The Nitrate Action Programme states: “It has been scientifically confirmed that the major source of nitrate pollution in ground-water is the excessive use of natural and artificial fertilisers in arable agricultural practices.”

The document also states that data from a fertilisers survey indicates the limit stipulated in the Nitrate Directive is being exceeded in almost all fields cultivated with irrigated vegetable crops, “in certain cases... by more than 100 per cent”.

But soil samples taken from agricultural land in Burmarrad last month were found to be within permissible limits, Environment Minister Leo Brincat said in Parliament on Tuesday.