National Agricultural Policy for the Maltese Islands.

This National Agricultural Policy for the Maltese Islands is a 10-year nationwide cross-sectoral document (the policy measures presented are intended to place sustainability as the cornerstone of this policy with a view to addressing economic, social and environmental impacts) aiming at laying down the government’s vision for the agricultural sector with the scope of (i) attracting more investment towards the agricultural sector and making it a more lucrative economic sector; (ii) attracting young farmers; and (iii) secure a balance between agriculture the environment and the resources it requires. To implement this general vision, six strategic policy objectives have been identified, including (1) food presentation, labeling and traceability; (2) consolidation of land holdings; (3) support for water and key resources; (4) competitiveness and diversification; (5) adaptation to and mitigation of geo-climatic conditions; and (6) research and development. The document presents a total of 70 measures organised in 4 sets of operational objectives, namely (i) economic objectives; (ii) social regeneration; (iii) resources; and (iv) governance. The Policy includes an Action Plan that presents the implementation schedule to be followed in terms of time-frames and responsible entities.
To make agriculture more productive and sustainable is the main goal of this Policy which highlights the following measures (i) diversify the agricultural product through a holistic rationalization of field crops; (ii) encourage measures for farmers to reduce their dependence on groundwater; (iv) promote environmentally sound agricultural practices including integrated pest management and plant nutrition; (v) promote a more circular approach by transforming wastes into resources and create sustainable alternative strategies related to livestock waste management including treatment of by-products; (vi) incentivize the consolidation of land parcels to improve their sustainability; (vii) facilitate sustainable agricultural production through environmentally sound agricultural practices including integrated pest management and plant nutrition; (viii) incentivize roof utilization of farm structures and rainwater runoff collection in arable agriculture for the effective collection of rainwater; (ix) develop and adopt new practices, business processes and smart technologies; (x) assess the feasibility and the potential of increasing organic production of Maltese agricultural products; (xi) promote bee keeping in agricultural holdings; (xii) increase awareness of soil as a living organism in order to promote a holistic approach to the soil’s productive capacity; (xiii) promote the development and financing of smart irrigation systems; and (xiv) make effective use of the register on legally protected Maltese varieties and their characteristics and research on their reintroduction in mainstream agriculture.
Rural poverty will be mainly faced through (i) support to collaborations between rural stakeholders and the tourism market on the upgrading of rural aesthetics, the creation of access routes and signage, and the sensitive upgrading of rural and village cores; (ii) encouraging farm developments and services that create new job opportunities with particular focus on local cultivars and breeds to promote rural tourism; and (iii) incentivizing and assisting farmers and rural stakeholders to preserve and regenerate rural skills through education, research, media coverage and capacity building.
In order to enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, the Government aims to (i) supply high quality and value added market-oriented products to increase farm-based earnings; (ii) boost farmer cooperation and clustering to improve the collective acquisition and provision of goods and services; (iii) promote enhanced harvesting, processing and storage methods to reduce product losses, to increase product value added and to identify new export markets; (iv) introduce customer relationship management frameworks to better understand consumer demands for agricultural products, their quality, origin and other differentiating features; (v) invest in flexible career pathways and educational services for rural entrepreneurs; (vi) assist farmers in the integrated management of water resources through financial and knowledge based instruments; (vii) facilitate the creation of agricultural business incubators that encourage farmers to join forces and plan their operations together, identifying the niche markets to exploit, the products required to serve such markets and any agri-business components intended to add value between the farm and the consumer; (viii) strengthen the link between farming and gastronomy, food, health and the environment through assistance schemes with due regard to state aid rules; and (ix) encourage partnerships to identify and evaluate export niche markets with the aim of tapping such markets for Maltese products involving all the key players of the food supply chain.
The resilience of livelihoods to disasters need to be increased through (i) increasing the agricultural sector adaptive capacity and identifying appropriate measures to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions; (ii) securing the legacy of indigenous plant species to preserve them for research and propagation purposes so as to conserve them as a genetic insurance in the face of environmental and climate risks as well as for food security in line with access and benefit sharing legislation; (iii) promoting research and experiment with wind curbing and soil conservation techniques that are suitable for localized climatic conditions as well as with new crops that require less water and fertilizer; and (iv) promoting collaboration between farmers and other rural stakeholders who are in the same situation to make them sharing infrastructural resources, energy production, and farm waste management.