Brussels has been formally asked to green light European funds for Maltese farmers who are being threatened with eviction.

The European Parliament has upheld a petition by PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba to address, together with the European Commission, farmers’ rights in Malta following a landmark constitutional court ruling here.

According to this 2020 ruling, the Agricultural Leases (Reletting) Act breached owners’ rights to the peaceful enjoyment of property. 

Maltese farmers are already facing challenges brought about by climatic and geographical limitations, the MEP said in his petition. Farmland is now being valued according to non-agricultural characteristics, making it impossible for farmers to rent or buy agricultural land, he is warning.

The call for support was tabled in the Committee on Petitions, of which he is vice-president.

The European Parliament will now be asking the European Commission to financially support Malta’s government in securing access to farmland.

Agius Saliba’s petition makes direct reference to a European Parliament resolution dated April 27, 2017, on the state of play of farmland concentration in the EU, and how to go about facilitating farmers' access to land.

He believes the resolution outlines Maltese farmers’ reality: “farmland prices and rents have in many regions risen to a level encouraging financial speculation, making it economically impossible for many farms to hold on to rented land or to acquire the additional land needed to keep small and medium-sized farms viable, let alone to start new farms, as there is hardly any land available on the market”.

The challenges farmers are facing in Malta, he warns, could endanger and wipe out the sustainability of the farming industry.

Times of Malta has reported that since the 2020 ruling, tens of farmers have ended up in court, with landowners challenging the so-called qbiela.

According to Agius Saliba, landowners have already initiated legal action against 40 farmers.

Malcolm Borg, who heads Għaqda Bdiewa Maltin had told Times of Malta he is approached by around five farmers every week claiming they are being kicked out of arable fields.

In September, the Agriculture Ministry had said it will be providing farmers with technical and legal support to alleviate the financial burden of court action. However, questions about farmers who are being threatened with eviction, which were sent to the government last year have remained unanswered.

Agius Saliba also acknowledges that farmland is being valued according to non-agricultural characteristics “associated with the rife commercial speculation related to the property market in Malta”.

In the most recent case, dozens of farmers are being threatened with eviction from Marsaxlokk land that their families have tilled for generations. The arable land was set to be sold at exorbitant prices.

An exercise by Times of Malta last year found that one tumolo of land was going for at least €40,000. To start a full-time agribusiness, a farmer would need an average of 12 tumoli. This would set them back at least €500,000, over and above their investment in cultivation machinery and tools.

According to the 2017 resolution, “the creation of speculative bubbles of farmland markets has serious consequences for farming, whereas speculation in commodities on future exchanges drives up farmland prices further”. It calls on states “to shape their land market policies in such a way as to permit access to ownership or tenure under financial conditions appropriate to farming and to monitor farmland prices and rents.”

What else is the petition calling for?

The parliamentary petition is calling on the commission to implement the 2017 resolution and protect Maltese farmers in relation to court proceedings “that will increase agricultural land speculation leading to forced evictions of farmers and the impossibility for agricultural land to be used for farming purposes”.

The petitioner is also calling on the commission to work with the Maltese government to draft “fair laws that protect farmland, farmers and property owners alike by taking a reasonable and balanced approach”.

New responsibility for Agius Saliba

Meanwhile, Agius Saliba has been appointed coordinator of the Socialists and Democrats’ digital agenda.