Be the first to comment!The setting up of a soil-less Green House System in Kercem
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According to a Commission document on Recommendations to the Member States as regards their strategic plan for the Common Agricultural Policy, specific to Malta and Gozo, it says that, ”it is becoming increasingly clear that Malta’s Farming Population is ageing rapidly and that there are fewer farmers coming to replace them.”
It recognises therefore, that encouraging the younger generation to pursue a career within the agricultural sector is a challenging and daunting task. For this reason, EAFRD funds have been ringfenced under Measure 6.1 – Business Start-Up Aid for Young Farmers to assist young farmers who intend to engage in agricultural activity.
As a young farmer in Gozo and wishing to take over his father’s farm, Mr. Tabone wanted to make use of available funds for agriculture and rural development to invest in new greenhouse technology, taking advantage of innovative soil-less growing systems.
It was explained that the idea is that compared to soil based growing systems, a soil-less system eliminates the need for soil sterilisation during summer, thus providing the producer with the opportunity to grow and sell produce all year round.
Having successfully tapped funding under Measure 6.1, Mr. Tabone is now a registered young farmer and has taken over his father’s farm located in Kercem. By accessing and making use of Rural Development Funding,
Mr. Tabone said that he invested in the conversion of a green house and transformed it into a more efficient growing system. The result of this technology means significant savings in cost of water, electricity, fertilisers and pesticides, increased yields and noticeable improvement in the quality of the product.
Over the longer term it is expected that as a result of this project, the established agricultural holding will also achieve an increase in revenue and profitability, given that now it possesses the competitive advantage of being able to produce a variety of higher quality, higher yield produce all year round at a relatively lower cost per unit.
