Banking delays have left some 600 farmers waiting to get paid hundreds of thousands of euros for produce sold at the pitkalija market around three months ago. 

Furious farmers told Times of Malta on Tuesday how they are still owed for produce sold at the Ta' Qali pitkalija in September. 

The delay in payment means that some are struggling to make ends meet as they have no cash to cover overheads and other operational expenses. 

“This isn’t a joke. It is our livelihood,” farmer Charles Grech said.  

It is understood the farmers are waiting on some €720,000. 

The pitkalija opens twice a week and sees farmers drop off thousands of kilos of fresh fruit and vegetables that are then auctioned off to supermarkets, grocers and hawkers.

Money generated from the sale of the produce is then paid to the farmers from a pitkalija bank account. 

The government’s new Malta Food Agency, set up over the summer, replaced the private company Pitkalija Limited which used to oversee the fruit and veg auction. 

Agency chief executive Brain Vella told Times of Malta when contacted that the new entity had experienced delays when it came to opening a bank account. 

He said the agency had recently been in touch with its banking partners to try and resolve the issue and was informed that farmers would be paid on Monday, November 22.  

Conceding that he had received a number of justified complaints from farmers, Vella said the situation had been out of the agency’s control.  

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the Nationalist Party slammed the government for withholding payments due to farmers.  

PN agriculture spokesperson Edwin Vassallo said the new agency was responsible for ensuring farmers get paid.  

Farmers, he said, could not be expected to continue to dig into their own pockets to cover their expenses while not being paid what they are owed.  

This is not the first time there have been payment woes at the pitkalija.  

In May, some 16 pitkala middlemen who are licensed to auction produce to resellers, were all stopped from plying their trad. 

The issue revolved around a bank guarantee that pitkala used to be expected to make to be allowed to operate. 

The guarantee, five per cent of their annual profit, was introduced in 2015 after one middleman racked up huge debts and left dozens of farmers abandoned when he could not pay them their profits from produce auctions. 

The government eventually stepped in to make good for the guarantee.