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Farmers’ survival depends on produce being subsidised
by Ivan Brincat
The Maltese government is still finalising its position paper
vis-à-vis the Common Agricultural Policy and this chapter
will not be opened under the Swedish presidency.
Foreign affairs minister Joe Borg told The Malta Business Weekly
there was no urgency to complete the position paper since the
European Union has stated that agriculture will be one of the
last chapters to be closed during negotiations with candidate
countries.
He said work on the chapter was still under way as the government
was going into a lot of detail to come up with a package for
the agriculture industry.
“It is better for us to take our time and come up with
a good position paper,” Dr Borg told The Malta Business
Weekly.
Originally, the position paper on agriculture had to be completed
very early in the year and the government had set January as
a target date.
It is now expected that the agricultural chapter will be opened
under the Belgian presidency of the EU which begins on 1 July.
The size of the chapter (it is more than half of the EU’s
acquis) as well as some of the impact assessment reports the
government has on the sector are the main causes of the delay.
Earlier this year, the chairman of the core negotiating group
Richard Cachia Caruana had said the government would be asking
for a special package for Malta since it presented a special
case due to its size.
Senior government sources told The Malta Business Weekly that
economies of scale would always be detrimental to Maltese farmers
whatever they do.
A decision therefore had to be taken to safeguard the rural
environment and this would automatically lead to farmers having
to be subsidised for their produce since the EU products would
come to Malta cheaper.
In fact Mr Cachia Caruana had stated that Maltese farming was
equivalent to 2.5 per cent of the GDP and contributed to less
than two per cent of employment. However, he said farming was
important and he had asked who would maintain terraced fields.
“The Maltese government will thus be asking for a special
package which is being prepared. While respecting the Common
Agriculture Policy, the package being proposed will take into
consideration the realities that exist,” Mr Cachia Caruana
said.
A study commissioned by the government was carried out by CIHEAM
and although this provided a lot of food for thought, sources
said operators in the field knew about the problems the sector
would face. “The study just identified what we had already
known but it pinpoints various sectors and shows that Malta
might not be competitive in areas such as poultry, pork and
the production of particular vegetables among others.
Producers in the poultry and pork sector depend on total protection
therefore they will be negatively affected. Moreover the EU
directives make it extremely hard for these sectors to expand
and reach the necessary economies of scale.
Other products like vegetables, tomatoes, wine and milk can
be sustained with heavy investment. However, the focus will
have to be on products with added value, the sources said.
Other studies, the sources added, are in the pipeline and the
last one, which is being finalised, provides options to the
dismantling of levies.
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