For a brief while, a few years ago, I had the opportunity to live in a farmers’ hamlet. Well, it used to be one at least, like many others; nowadays, farmers, CEOs, hippies and other wanderers such as the undersigned all share the same postcodes, pathways, potholes.

I grew up in a fishermen’s town (which suffered a rougher fate at the hands of overdevelopment) and I knew close to nothing about farming. I could tell it’s backbreaking work but that does not require much effort; I only found out a small part of what farmers really do in those distant 18 months. I learnt some more about farmers’ struggles through activism but that, again, is a drop in the ocean.

Tough life being a farmer. You’re perennially at the mercy of the elements: sunrise, sunset, the rain, the wind, the drought. You’re perennially at the mercy of market forces, with a much-needed reform of the Pitkalija that has yet to see its own sunrise, or fierce competition hailing from one supermarket chain after the other. And, of course, you’re perennially at the mercy of land speculators, developers, estate agents, road builders, various suited bullies…

Rural communities in Malta are among the most fragile; in between all the elements above, bullets are flying in from all directions. Clearly, the importance of this sector is wilfully underrated, save for the occasional bouts of lip service offered during constituency meetings.

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, we heard a lot about the importance of having a stable food supply – literally, food on our tables. Anything that can interrupt the supply of produce imported from abroad – such as a forced closure of ports and airports – will immediately lead to a shortage of fruit and vegetables.

Farming NGOs, in addition to better coordination between the authorities and farming communities, have repeatedly called for stakeholders to come together and improve the management of the supply chain.

In their submissions for a national agricultural policy, NGOs such as the Malta Youth in Agriculture Foundation (MaYA) have made the case for the upgrade of the whole sector through the creation of effective operational groups, assistance and strengthening of cooperation initiatives, a reduction in red tape (a luxury only allowed to developers) and better consideration of funding initiatives for the sector.

It’s a tough life being a farmer- Wayne Flask

But besides the stiff competition faced from abroad, the sector is also facing pressure from within.

Arable land is a prized target for speculators and road builders alike, who are slowly strangling the sector in a suffocating pincer movement. Vultures circle lands tilled by Maltese farmers before deciding to pounce on their target: from shameful Planning Authority decisions which, week in, week out, allow more development by stealth on ODZ and farmlands, to the sickening bullying of farmers by Infrastructure Malta’s top brass as we have seen in Dingli, Attard, Burmarrad and countless other undocumented episodes.

Road building is the new fad. In both Central Link and Tal-Balal road widening projects, substantial agricultural land has been taken up; indeed, whole livelihoods have been gobbled up by tarmac. Weeks into the projects, applications for supermarket developments sprang up in both towns – a double whammy for local farming  since not only is that fertile land gone forever but it does so to give way to imported foreign produce, which, in most cases, is far from the fresh we deserve.

Politicians fall over themselves to heap praise, and patronisingly so, on farmers; away from the spotlights, they choose them as their victim of choice, without fail, every time infrastructure needs to be ‘updated’. So much for the claims of a proud upbringing in farming towns.

Land and its availability, on the other hand, stifle young farmers’ access to the industry. It’s virtually impossible to purchase arable land at decent prices; a bar set way too high, which works against the sector and its potential output.

In this regard, certain aspects of law regulating agriculture should be reviewed. Obsolete legislation has made it harder to transfer land to individuals who have a genuine desire to work the land for agricultural purposes; in the meantime, neglected farmlands owned by the government should be reclaimed and redistributed.

I do remember my former landlord, a farmer, complaining about the lack of helping hands; his only son had no interest in farming, meaning that when Charlie’s days are over, nobody will be there to till the land. And what happens to that land afterwards?

The government should look at ways of bringing in more manpower to the sector, maybe by intervening to organise, support and directly remunerate the hundreds of migrant workers in agriculture. There are some success stories about integration to be shared here, perhaps on another day.

And, finally, if the government really thinks the world of our farmers, it should offer a scheme for the upgrading of farming equipment. Developers and contractors have been given a golden handout for these upgrades in spite of the huge profit margins; why not farmers, who struggle with their set of harsh realities day in, day out?

Wayne Flask is a member of Moviment Graffiti.