The war in Ukraine, a major producer of wheat, has further highlighted the frailty of the national food supply, which depends extensively on importation of most of our foodstuffs.
As our cost of living has yet to reflect the full brunt of the war and its effects on the global supply chain, the issue of food prices has been on the agenda for the past few weeks. However, it appears that the response to this newest of crises is rather one-sided.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has pledged millions to sustain the stability of the price of bread, with funds going to importers on condition they do not raise prices.
This is the tried-and-tested tactic of incentivising businesses and amounts to a form of state aid. Throughout the electoral campaign, in fact, we have seen plenty of promises for tax incentives or tax cuts, grants and funding of various forms, all of which were aimed at the business community.
In this regard, Abela’s policy is not very different from Joseph Muscat’s trickle-down doctrines, whereby benefits for business are meant to translate in benefits for the population.
However, while this approach may help to stabilise prices in the short term, it ignores the huge grey elephant that is eating away at our national food supply.
An NSO study published last February confirmed that our agricultural sector is in shambles.
The numbers were clear enough: farmland dwindled by 6.2 per cent in the last 10 years, while the number of agricultural holdings decreased by 14.8 per cent over the same period. The labour force declined by over a quarter, with only 23.7 per cent of those employed in agriculture aged under 45. Over half of the agricultural holdings still in operation do not have succession plans to take over the business after retirement.
Disorganised, demoralised and often derided, the farming sector has struggled to make ends meet due to a number of factors. Attacked by anything from droughts to aggressive speculation and faulty land lease laws, the numbers confirm the slow and painful death of a sector that should form an integral part of our strategy to ensure the local food supply.
Sadly, the latter is far away from the plans of both parties, who struggle to understand, or wilfully ignore, the plight of farmers. It is ironic that government chooses to throw money at a quick fix rather than looking at the long-term stability of the sector and those who work in it.
Little has come in terms of funding dedicated to farming. During the last budget, schemes for young or organic farmers were announced. However, nothing has been done to give farmers access to the most basic of resources: land. Such schemes are another proof of the government’s detachment from the realities faced by farmers.
Equally painful is the flow of news about development projects earmarked for agricultural land, including a fireworks factory in Għaxaq (9,000 sqm) and a quarry in Bengħajsa (6,000 sqm). It seems that the government deems flimsy planning policies to be of a higher importance than the national food supply, an incomprehensible stance in times like these, which confirms the lack of interest in finding solutions.
In the same way the government has forked out millions for grain importers, and before that, developers wanting to upgrade their equipment, it should be working to inject new life into farming. First of all, by creating its own workforce to employ in the vast swathes of unused agricultural land, putting an end to any sort of development on fertile land, and giving farmers the dignity and protection they deserve.