NEWS | Wednesday, 04 March 2009

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Since EU accession, land for potato growing declined by 41% as Malta loses over 600 hectares of agricultural land

James Debono
Once the pride of Maltese agriculture due to its fame in export markets like the Netherlands, the fortunes of the Maltese potato have turned sour in the past few years.
In the four years following Malta’s accession to the European Union, the area dedicated to the cultivation of potatoes declined from 1,207 hectares in 2003 to just 712 hectares in 2007: a decline of 41%, a report on agriculture and fisheries issued by the National Statistics Office shows.
The same report also states that the total estimated volume of potatoes produced by Maltese farmers fell from 23,308 tonnes to 14,148 tonnes and that exports fell from 7200 tonnes in the 2004/2005 crop year to 2600 tonnes in 2006/2007.
Peter Axisa, president of the Ta’ Qali Producers Group, explained that while costs have increased, the price of potatoes has remained stable. “Growing potatoes is a very hard task and many farmers feel that it is not worth the effort, considering the high costs.”
Axisa also blamed the decline of the Maltese potato on lifestyle changes, namely households buying ready-made potato chips.
The potato crop constituted a very important sector in Maltese agriculture since farmers have been exporting potatoes for well over a hundred years.
The export of early potatoes has continued to develop over the years to become one of Malta’s main agricultural export activity, involving over 800 small-scale farmers who grow their potato crop from certified seed potatoes, mainly imported from the Dutch seed potato company Agrico.
The spring-crop potatoes from Malta are very appreciated on the Dutch market, where Maltese potatoes achieve premium and distinct prices from the produce of other European countries. In fact Malta potatoes are often referred to in the trade journals as the ‘Maltas’. The Dutch consumers, especially those of traditional eating habits, have acquired a preference for Maltese produce for which they are ready to pay high prices.
But farmers have also moved on to more profitable activities. During the same period, the area occupied by vineyards increased from 615 hectares in 2003 to 751 hectares in 2007 – an increase of 22%.
45% of agricultural land in Malta is dedicated to forage. In 2007 the total land area dedicate to forage amounted to 4,690 hectares, a slight decrease from 2003 when forage covered 48% of total land.
The land dedicated for permanent cropping has increased from 465 to 570 hectares and kitchen gardens have increased from 423 to 987 hectares.
Overall land utilised for agricultural activities in Malta and Gozo declined by 4% from 10,794 hectares in 2003 to 10,326 hectares in 2007.
The major dip was registered between 2003 and 2005 – the first year of EU membership when Malta lost 439 hectares. But in the next two years an increase of 62 hectares was registered.
The sharpest decline was experienced in Malta, where land used for agriculture declined from 8,667 hectares in 2003 to 8,034 hectares in 2007 – a sharp drop of 7.3%.
On the other hand land in Gozo dedicated to agricultural activities increased from 2,127 hectares to 2,292 ha, an increase of nearly 8%.
In the same timeframe total employment in agriculture declined from 17,868 to 17,148. But the number of full-time farmers increased from 1,580 to 1,764.
The number of agricultural holdings has increased slightly from 10,987 in 2003 to 11,018 in 2007.
46.8% of landholdings have an area of less than 0.5 hectares of agricultural area. The average size of agricultural holdings in 2007 amounted to 0.94 hectares, up slightly from 0.93 hectares in 2005.
“Many farmers would like to expand their holdings by taking over neighboring disused farms. But unfortunately agricultural land can only be passed from father to son,” Axisa told MaltaToday, adding that a reversal of this condition would enable farmers to buy more land and increase holdings.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt

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