High temperatures this winter are already having an impact on the agricultural sector, with big yields dropping prices of produce and fruit trees feeling the pinch, according to the farmers’ association.
Fruit trees, including vineyards, were already bearing the brunt as they needed a spell of cold weather to enter their dormancy phase for good production in the subsequent spring and summer, Malcolm Borg, coordinator of Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi said, hoping for cold weather at least by the end of January.
The Meteorological Office has forecast the possibility of some occasional light showers in the coming days but this may not be enough for farmers already grappling with problems caused by the warm weather, Borg implied.
High supply due to a higher yield was also resulting in a drop in prices, said Borg, deputy director of the Centre for Agriculture, Aquatics and Animal Sciences at the Institute of Applied Science at MCAST.
“Generally, the cold weather decreases crop growth and, therefore, yield,” he said.
“This decreases supply and farmers fetch a higher price for their products. When warm weather replaces this cold weather, supply is high and prices for farmers drop,” he added, highlighting that winter prices for crops are usually very important in their financial year.
The increased warmth and drought conditions that Malta has been experiencing have a “compounding effect” on agricultural activities as seasonal and permanent crops needed a continuous supply of freshwater, especially during their maturation, climate expert Charles Galdies weighed in.
This was not happening and was resulting in less productivity, he continued, pointing to a similar situation in the winter of 2016, which provided a good example of compounding extreme weather conditions and illustrated the “effect of background climate trends that can amplify natural climate variability”.
Last year was also characterised by warm and dry weather and all months – with the exception of May, September and November – registered less than normal rainfall, said the associate professor at the University of Malta’s Environmental Management & Plan Division, within the Institute of Earth Systems.
November registered twice the expected amount of rainfall, whereas October only registered 18mm out of the expected 77mm, Galdies listed.
June experienced a six-day heatwave and August registered a mean temperature that was 2°C above the norm while the mean sea temperature in July was 3°C higher than the norm.
The severity of crop losses driven by heatwaves and drought tripled in the last 50 years in Europe, according to a study that highlighted the vulnerability of food systems to climate change in 2021.