Any space for young farmers?

Everyone is familiar with the myriad of challenges that farmers have to face on daily basis. The ongoing hard work of the farming community does not necessarily translate to good income, since their produce is at risk due to weather conditions, diseases, price fluctuations and various other factors. In Malta particularly, the small size of land and the deteriorating ground water quality makes matters worse. All this put together surely doesn’t encourage youth to aspire for a career as farmers, especially within the horticultural sector.

The challenges of agriculture however aren’t a reason to stop land cultivation. It is an undisputed fact that agriculture is essential for the country. It is indispensable for Malta to have the primary production of food sector in good shape and it is the policy makers’ duties to ensure that this has a sustainable future. Furthermore, farmers are the guardians of Malta’s landscape. Over the years there were some positive initiatives to encourage the involvement of young farmers; such as specialised courses at MCAST and EU funding targeted towards young farmers. Having said that, the biggest issue hasn’t been tackled yet and it is something often avoided in agricultural policy discussions. Young farmers do not have land available to work in.

Issues regarding agricultural land in Malta are vast and merit a discussion of their own, but it is worth noting that such issues are the biggest hurdle for young farmers. Other challenges can be managed with good knowledge, financial support and diversification of products. But a young farmer has no way of obtaining agricultural land unless this is already family owned. The government, who is the largest agricultural land owner in Malta, doesn’t provide a mechanism which allows agricultural land to be passed on to dedicated young farmers. The other theoretical alternative is for a farmer to try and buy a private piece of agricultural land. However in practice this does not make any financial sense as these prices are heavily inflated due to the competition from other commercial land uses. A young farmer cannot be expected to pay about €350,000 for a hectare of land (8.9 tumoli), not to mention that such an area is not enough to return enough income for a full-time farmer, even if one were to disregard the cost of the land itself.

If young farmers are provided with the basic resources, there is an optimistic future ahead for the agricultural sector. There are already good established industries such as potatoes (local and export), grapes (for wines) and tomatoes (for processing), and various emerging opportunities for cash crops and processed products which can yield high returns if well managed. But a farmer cannot produce any of these if not provided with reasonable space to make it feasible.

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