Two of Malta’s leading agricultural NGOs say they are receiving an increasing number of reports from distressed farmers worried they could be kicked off their land, following a landmark court judgment last November.

The two NGOs sounded the alarm after the Constitutional Court ruled that the Agricultural Leases Act, which grants tenants an indefinite right of renewal, breached a landlord’s fundamental rights.

That judgment was the first to back owners of agricultural land – often worth millions but leased at a paltry rent – and the fear is that it could open the floodgates to many more cases on similar grounds.

The Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi (GħBA) (active farmers’ association) and the Malta Youth in Agriculture Foundation (MaYA) confirmed farmers are growing increasingly concerned at the possibility.

The NGOs said one of the factors is an increase in casual buyers or renters looking for agricultural land that can be repurposed for recreational use.

MaYA pointed to the lack of spaces available for the general population as having led to a surge in recreational demand for agricultural land.

GħBA also pointed to an increase in interest from landowners who wish to turn their workable land into solar farms.

The association’s spokesperson Malcolm Borg said they knew of at least four pending court cases similar to November’s.

“In all, we’ve dealt with at least 40 cases related to ongoing land disputes. After the judgement in November, many of these cases were reignited by landowners who wished to use the precedent to their favour,” Borg said.

“While it is not new to see landowners wishing to force farmers off their land, this new legal precedent is only set to make the situation worse. Farmers are being squeezed out of their own field of expertise.”

'I'm worried I will lose everything'

Two anonymous farmers, who spoke to Times of Malta, confirmed the statements made by the NGOs.

“I’ve been working this field for 40 years and now I’m really worried I will lose everything,” said one farmer, whose case is currently in court.

There are no authorities who want to help us feed Malta

“I went from trying to convince the landowner to help me with basic infrastructural issues to getting threatened in court.

“Since last November, dedication to the field I love is the only thing that has kept me going,” he added, referring to increased pressure since the constitutional court decision.

The other farmer reported similar issues, describing how the owner of the land he’s been working for over 16 years had taken him to court four times, so far without success. But for how long?

“There are no ministers who genuinely care for us [farmers], no authorities who want to help us feed Malta,” one of the farmers complained.

“There is almost no one left to work our fields, and very little to work with. Who is going to work the fields when we need them most, the landowners?” he asked.

Successive governments all failed to give agriculture adequate attention, the frustrated farmer complained.

“We have lined the pockets of rich landowners with our work and with our land, and now we, the farmers who spend our lives in our fields, will end up landless.”

One of the farmers has spent well over €6,000 in legal fees alone.

Borg said farmers were suffering from “legal fatigue” from their land-use disputes.

“We’ve seen many farmers unable to sustain repeated legal challenges from wealthier landowners, who can afford to restart proceedings with fresh appeals or new cases altogether in order to squeeze out a return on their investment,” Borg said.

MaYA foundation said it was receiving “a lot of queries from farmers who were told to start paying more or otherwise move out of the land”.

However, both NGOs acknowledged that farmers should not expect to keep on paying a pittance for their land.

The foundation said individual farmers must cooperate together and find new ways of rendering their products more profitable in the long term to boost the sector’s efficiency.

The agricultural sector, it said, needed to be more financially sustainable.

“Otherwise, farmers will not be able to pay for increased rents and we will lose even more land to development from landlords who want a return on their investment.

“Action must be taken to prevent consequences such as EU funds being given to farmers only to have the same farmer be evicted, for example. What would a farmer do in that situation? How would they be able to pay those funds back?

“While we certainly cannot refute that landlords should be entitled to fair compensation for their land, we are a lot less certain about what will happen next,” the foundation said.

Edward Debono, the lawyer who instituted the landmark case on behalf of J&C Properties, said “rental rates must always reflect the value of the property”.

The tenant in question, he said, would now be facing eviction proceedings.

“Ultimately the main issue here is that there is no proportionality in monetary value. The rent receivable by the owners in these arrangements is paltry and does not reflect market forces nor the value of the property itself,” he said.