The 4th and 5th May Agri Committee outcomes
The Green Hand followed with attention the Agri Committee Meetings that took place at the beginning of this week at the European Parliament in Brussels. Among the topics put on the table, the points below caught our eye as they were particularly relevant for Malta.
First, generational renewal in agriculture. The barriers faced by the sector are obvious. Access to land and capital, financial predictability, decent incomes, business perspectives and quality of life are the most common but what are the concrete solutions? The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) plays a central role but is not sufficient by itself. It is precisely here that the National Government has to step in to complete the CAP Strategic Plan to avoid losing human capital that is crucial both for the Maltese agricultural sector and the food security of the country.
As we already know, the Middle East crisis will affect fertilizers, food prices and ultimately, inflation. However, the effects of this crisis will only be really impacting the Maltese economy in the next 6 to 12 months. Energy shocks are more and more frequent. It is therefore primordial for Malta to put in place structural mechanisms to reduce its dependency on fertilizers and reenforce its strategic autonomy. At the European level, the European Commission will adopt an EU fertilizers action plan in this regard on the 19th of May 2026.
One of the main outcomes of the European Court of Auditors’ (ECA) presentation was that Members States are not implementing consistently the EU comprehensive framework for checking that olive oil is genuine. This highlights the question of agricultural product traceability and consumers’ security in terms of food safety. A comparison could easily be made with other Maltese flagship products such as honey or ġbejna where the lack of controls leads to unfair competition and risks of food fraud. This particular problem should be tackled by the Maltese government by introducing, for example, updated systems with new technologies when it comes to monitoring agricultural products.
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