MEP Peter Agius on Tuesday urged the government to tap into “millions” of EU loans that could be made available for Maltese farmers to secure food production in Malta.

The European Investment Bank last December launched a new agriculture financing programme worth €3 billion which is already supporting farming projects in Spain, Italy and Portugal.

The EIB schemes aim to support investment in farming operations in collaboration with local banks to offer favourable financing terms for a wide range of investments which can also cover land ownership.

Speaking after his meeting with EIB representatives, Agius pointed out the “need for financial instruments tailored to Malta’s unique challenges”.

He said that farmland prices in Malta have gone up 10 times over the last years where a tumolo of land now costs between €60,000 to €100,000 compared to €3000 for the same size of land in mainland Europe.

“Maltese farmers need direct help to buy land to compete in the single market,”Agius said, adding that this would be in the interest of securing food supply in Malta.

Malta currently imports up to 70% of all fresh food.

“The EIB programme can be a real opportunity for Malta. Access to land has become a huge barrier for Maltese farming. Europe now has the tools to help us tackle it. These funds can be tailored to directly support farmers who want to invest in our collective future and contribute to stronger local food production.”

He highlighted the need for an intervention to help farmers acquire land as “the agricultural sector in Malta finds it hard to compete with the economies of scale in mainland Europe and other international markets”.

The average size of a farm in Malta is less than one hectare whereby in Europe an average farm is over 20 hectares.

“We must find ways to empower Maltese farmers to compete. One way of doing this is to help them grow bigger to face the competition. Land access is key to this equation.’’ Agius said.