18th and 19th March Agri Committee

This week’s Agri Committee Meetings will take place on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 March at the European Parliament and, once again, they will be quite relevant for Malta as they will cover topics such as the specific measures to support agriculture in the EU outermost regions, the EU livestock sector, the EU dairy market and support measures for famers’ income in the context of inflation and rising production costs. 

Considering its insular nature, Malta in fact has a lot in common with some EU outermost regions when it comes to import costs, competitiveness of the traditional sectors and supply of essential agricultural products. Comparing Malta to such regions could be very useful to inform the country’s agricultural sector development.

The Maltese livestock sector is particularly at risk as it suffers from economic difficulties, a lack of generational renewal and insufficient attractiveness. This sector is however primordial to preserving Maltese cultural heritage and food sovereignty. Agricultural products promotion and geographic indications labels ensuring quality, traceability and sustainability seem to be key points when it comes to dealing with rising regulatory demands on emission footprints and animal welfare straining further competitiveness.

The Maltese dairy sector is another sector which is currently in difficulty as it is heavily dependent on forage imports and therefore very vulnerable to import cost fluctuations on the international scale.

Maltese farms, being relatively small, are without a doubt more vulnerable to crises and market fluctuations as they rely more on fixed support payments whose real value has been eroded by general inflation. It will be interesting to know what support measures for farmers will be put on the table.

Follow us to read the Agri Committee outcomes later on!