Maltese farmers are only getting one-third of the direct EU subsidies for farmland that their Italian counterparts receive, Peter Agius has said.

The PN MEP candidate made the claim after analysing national Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) strategy plans submitted by the Maltese and Italian governments in 2022.

While Italian farmers growing vegetables and legumes receive up to €4,100 in subsidies per hectare, Maltese farmers can only pocket a maximum of €1,400 per hectare. That means local farmers must offset the difference - €2,700 per hectare – if they are to compete with imported vegetables, Agius said.

“Robert Abela has blamed the EU for the farmers’ situation, but figures show that his government has negotiated a very unfair deal for Maltese farmers under the same EU policies which the Italians used for much more generous subsidies,” Agius said on Tuesday.

“The EU is simply the tool which the government is not using well enough, and as we all know, a bad workman quarrels with his tools.”

The CAP - the EU's single largest budgetary expense - is a complex system of funding and subsidies made available to farmers within member states. It is built on two main pillars: one focused on direct subsidies given to farmers, and the other focused on financial aid to improve farming infrastructure and machinery. 

Malta has traditionally opted to allocate the lion's share of its CAP funding to the latter, providing EU-backed funding for things like the reconstruction of rubble walls, restoration of reservoirs and purchase of more sustainable machinery. 

As a result, farmers receive less money in direct subsidies when compared to many other member states, and spend more time filling in complex EU-related paperwork - something they highlighted as an issue in their recent protest.

Agius, who has spoken on several occasions about local farming and its challenges, noted that Maltese farmers are also disadvantaged from the outset, as less agricultural land is eligible for CAP funding than in Italy.

While 80 per cent of agricultural land in Italy is declared for CAP purposes, that figure falls to just 55 per cent in Malta.

As a result, local produce is being gradually edged out of local markets. Agius noted that the share of local produce on the Maltese food market now stands at 20 per cent, while it stood at 60 per cent before Malta joined the EU.

“Malta-produced food is being pushed out of the market by design,” he said, noting that led to higher food costs, higher emissions due to food imports and a greater risk of food insecurity.

“The writing is on the wall – reverse this trend or be condemned to higher food prices or even risk hunger in case of international crises,” Agius said.