Almost 90% of land declared by farmers was utilised for agriculture

by Gozo News · June 10, 2014

Almost 90 per cent of total land declared by farmers, or 11,689 hectares, was utilised for agriculture, the National Statistics Office said today.

The total utilised agricultural area (UAA) amounted to 11,689 hectares. Agricultural holdings in Malta and Gozo are small, where 9,427 (75.6 per cent) each had a UAA of less than 1.0 hectare. Medium-sized agricultural holdings made up 22.0 per cent of the total; such holdings comprise between one and five hectares, while 2.4 per cent are considered large, each having a minimum of five hectares of UAA.

Arable land accounted for 76.7 per cent of the total UAA, while permanent crops and kitchen gardens made up the remaining 10.8 and 12.5 per cent respectively. The cultivation of fodder plants (59.0 per cent) was predominant in the tenure of arable land.

1,264 hectares of UAA comprised plantations, of which 54.0 per cent was dedicated to vineyard cultivation. Fruit and berry plantations, mainly peaches, amounted to 30.5 per cent of total permanent crops, while citrus, olive and nurseries accounted for 7.1, 8.2 and 0.2 per cent respectively.

As at 1 September 2013, the total cattle population amounted to 14,949 heads, of which 6,239, or 41.7 per cent, were dairy cows. The pig population amounted to 51,641 heads, while sheep and goat stocks numbered 9,916 and 4,032 heads respectively. A total 0.9 million poultry heads were registered, of which 67.2 and 32.4 per cent were broilers and laying hens respectively.

Agricultural holdings in Malta were predominantly run by sole holders (98.6 per cent. Group holdings and companies accounted for 1.1 and 0.3 per cent of all holdings respectively. Sole holders also acted as farm managers in 96.9 per cent of all sole-holder agricultural holdings.

The agricultural labour force was made up of 19,066 persons, or 5,044 annual work units. Part-time employment amounted to 17,693 persons (92.8 per cent), while 1,372 persons (7.2 per cent) worked on a full-time basis. Males (79.3 per cent) were predominant in the agricultural labour force.

Of all sole-holder managers, 45.7 per cent reported that they practised a major gainful activity outside of agriculture, while 52.4 per cent stated that they had no other gainful activity. The majority of the latter were either totally engaged in agriculture or were pensioners.

During the reference period, 84.6 per cent of all sole-holder managers were 45 years of age or older, while the majority of sole-holder managers (70.2 per cent) worked less than 25 per cent of one annual work unit.