The need to protect the crops and land has never been so great – Societies

by Gozo News · September 10, 2024

The need to protect the crops and land has never been so great - Societies 24 agricultural entities, together with the Chamber of Architects – are asking the country, the Government, the public and any other stakeholders – to recognise that “agricultural land should be used only for agricultural activities and that it should stop being taken and used for recreational purposes.”

In a joint statement, they said that “the demand for the use of arable for non-agricultural purposes has exploded in the last few years due to factors various- from the need for marriage during the Covid pandemic, exaggerated urbanisation, lack of open spaces in urban places and other factors.”

This, they said, “while the children of retired farmers and farm owners without interest in working the land, have seized the opportunity to liquidate this property they had no interest to use. In exceptional cases, even producers who have found themselves in difficulty in management of their enterprise found it attractive to sell the land they work on.”

The societies stressed that all this caused astronomical increase in the price of crops – the price of crops in Malta is now “20 times more than the average price in the EU.”

They argued that “this is in a world where food security is becoming increasingly precarious, where the climate change crisis is threatening food production more and more and where the vulnerability of our country to waves like this is very large as it imports more than three quarters of the food consumed by the people.”

The societies stressed that “every patch of soil must be protected and its potential to produce food must be ensured to be met.”

“The recreational use of productive land is a serious threat to our country’s ability to support the production of food,” the societies said. “It is also really banal that while we have a farm that is used for a million non-agricultural purposes the entire agricultural industry is looking for land to produce food and drink while giving its economic contribution.”

They warned that “this non-agricultural use and the sharing of the land is also leading to drastic changes in the landscape of our country. Where before we used to see field after field with cultivated produce, now we have a quarter the size of a dot divided by a low wall, empty or full of wild grass, with a wooden room and a tent, high walls or invasive trees along the road to maintain privacy and some area where cars park and to put a bouncy castle for the children to play.”

The societies concluded by saying that “there is a need for this to stop immediately and the great damage done to be reversed as soon as possible. There is a need to it is ensured that productive land is used for productive purposes, that the crop is entrusted to the hands of those who know and want work and that the Maltese rural landscape is safeguarded.

The statement was signed by:

1 Agriculture Co-Operative Ltd.

2 Breeds of Origin Conservancy

3 Emmanuel Delicata Winemaker

4 Farmers’ Central Coop Society Ltd.

5 Ghaqda Bdiewa Attivi

6 Ghaqda Produtturi tal-Ghasel Malti

7 Ghaqda Trobbija tan-Nahal u Ghasel Malti

8 Kamra tal-Periti

9 Koperattiva Bdiewa Dingli

10 Koperattiva Bdiewa Mgarr

11 Koperattiva Bdiewa Qormi u Ghawdex