1st, 2nd and 3rd June Agri Committee

The Green Hand will follow closely the Agri Committee Meetings taking place on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd June at the European Parliament in Brussels. These meetings will be particularly relevant for Malta as they will cover topics such as “EU school scheme”, sectorial interventions, proteins crops, EU agri-food promotion policy and the European Commission Fertilisers Action Plan.

“EU school scheme” is something that is worthwhile mentioning. This could contribute not only to providing better nutrition and food knowledge for children in general, but could also represent a new business opportunity for Maltese farmers. “EU school scheme” could indeed constitute another local market for farmers, guaranteeing them a new outlet for their products with a minimum of costs linked to transport.

Sectorial interventions could also be very useful for Malta as they would enable the introduction of direct support to sectors that are not covered by the Maltese CAP Strategic Plan such as, and amongst other sectors, fruit, wine, olive oil and table olives and hops sectors to favor the development of such sectors in Malta.

Proteins crops are also interesting for Malta in regard to the livestock sector. This sector suffers from a lack of good quality animal feeds and is therefore obliged to import the majority of its needs generally from France or Italy. Proteins crops could be cultivated in Malta and integrated in the livestock diets in order to reduce the island’s dependency on low quality animal feed imports that risk becoming even more costly with the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

Agri-food promotion policy is another key point for Malta’s agriculture sector as it could enable on one hand, better promotion of Maltese products abroad and on the other, to solidify their position in the local food chain, thereby increasing Maltese farmers’ productivity, territorial cohesion and rural development.

The presentation of the Fertilisers Action Plan should give us more insights of how the European Commission will proceed to notably increase fertilisers’ availability and affordability for farmers in the short term and reinforce fertilisers’ domestic production and diversify fertiliser supply to strengthen our strategic autonomy and resilience in this regard in the long term.

Follow us to find out about the outcomes of these meetings!