Agricultural crisis having effect on mostly island and peripheral states - Sant

MEP Alfred Sant says that farmers and producers in island and peripheral situations are among the worst hit by the current agricultural crisis, which is a result of the Russian ban on EU agricultural products.

“The current agricultural crisis is not affecting only producers who supplied vegetable, pigmeat and dairy products to Russia, but it is also adversely affecting other producers who are finding that sales on their home markets are being undercut by produce diverted from Russian destinations,” Sant said.

Speaking at the European Parliament during a debate on the ongoing agricultural crisis, Sant added that the compensatory measures to rectify this situation need to be strengthened and broadly disseminated.

“Not enough is being done to compensate for the harmful effects of the crisis in a number of agricultural sectors,” he said adding that this time the problem was triggered by the prohibitions set by Russia on EU agricultural imports, which was in turn a retaliation for the sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia.

“It is now clear that EU sanctions were imposed without enough thought being given to the retaliatory consequences that would follow.”

“There has been over-reliance by EU decision makers on growth in export markets outside Russia and inside the EU to compensate for losses in Russian markets; on remedial half measures adopted to overcome the arising problems; and on the belief that any losses sustained would be reversible” he said, emphasizing that these stances had been altogether too optimistic.