The local farming community is facing an existential crisis. Livestock farmers and fruit and vegetable growers have formidable challenges to earn a living, not least due to the free importation of farm produce from countries that benefit from economies of scale.
Farming is in a struggle against natural and manmade causes like climate change, the reduction of arable land taken up for property development and the dwindling number of young people who chose farming as a career.
To make their situation even more difficult, Malta’s farmers are then often short-changed by the local wholesale vegetable market structure, making it more difficult for them to survive economically. Unless a root and branch reform of this market is undertaken with urgency, the farming community risks further decline and eventual extinction.
A well-organised vegetable market should facilitate the physical exchange of produce; sort products based on standards criteria; strike an equilibrium mechanism for product prices; exchange information between suppliers and buyers and manage the risks to which farmers are exposed.
Only when these objectives are achieved can wholesale markets be efficient in the food distribution value chain. Unfortunately, farmers are often the weakest link in the chain as some rogue middlemen can easily exploit them.
The latest onslaught is the dispute between the vegetable market middlemen (pitkala) and the government. The pitkala argue that the Agriculture Ministry has not kept to its promise to eliminate bank guarantees to ensure that farmers are paid for the products they have sold at the Pitkalija. The bank guarantee system was introduced in 2015 after one pitkal failed to pay several farmers for sales he had made to retailers.
This dispute has caused some disruption in the already dysfunctional wholesale market. The government withdrew the licences of 16 middlemen. This means farmers having to sell their produce directly to supermarkets, grocery stores and fruit and vegetable sellers as well as to the few restaurants and hotels that still require their produce right now.
The last time farmers got stuck in a tug of war between the government and the pitkala was in 2012, when the last attempt was made to reform the wholesale vegetable market system.
Farmers have over long years failed to get adequate support from politicians who seem to have given up on the local farming industry, which accounts for only two per cent of GDP. That figure is a very poor reflection of its real value in the life of the nation.
Some politicians can wax lyrical about how they value the work of local farmers. Soon we will see election candidates visiting farms for photo opportunities to show their appreciation for the role of farming in the country’s heritage and cultural identity. Politicians’ enthusiasm to inflate the construction bubble that is ruining the urban and rural landscape is certainly not replicated in their support of farmers.
Maltese society needs to move on from its often romantic perception of farming and adopt a more pragmatic stance, with vigorous support of its agricultural community. This change in attitude should start with a sober soul-searching exercise to identify the problems that they face at all stages of production and distribution of their products.
It is time for our political leaders to make it a top priority to render farming viable again, even if this effort may need public support to overcome some of the adverse effects that our small size has on the local industry.
The current dispute between pitkala and the government must be resolved urgently to open the way for meaningful cooperation by all parties to save the farming industry.