MaYA, Graffitti have ‘deep reservations’ on proposed agricultural lease reforms

The Malta Youth in Agriculture (MaYA) Foundation and Moviment Graffitti have expressed reservations about a proposed agriculture lease reform, saying the tabling of the Bill on the same day as the White Paper, raised doubts on whether this was a cosmetic ‘box-ticking’ exercise by the agriculture ministry.

As the public consultation closes to an end, the Bill has already advanced the stage of the Second Reading in Parliament.

​Both organisations said the Bill comes at a time when the sector was waiting for an important court pronouncement on the constitutionality of agricultural leases. “Should this Bill become law, it might create more uncertainty than it resolves,” they said.

The organisations questioned the definition of what a “genuine” farmer could be in the law, which they said was a massive loophole that had to be avoided. They spoke of the danger in defining a genuine farmer based on ‘product value outgoing from agricultural land or farm over a period of one year’ as this can easily be interpreted as if agricultural land that does not produce economic gains is not relevant. 

“What about subsistence farmers?” asked the NGOs. Several subsistence farmers who are also important in the upkeep of the rural landscape are not considered in terms of economic output, they said.

Registered agricultural labour workforce decreased by 25% between 2010 and 2020 according to the NSO, with the vast majority of farmers being part-timers. 

The two NGOs also called for longer-term leases that can ensure feasible investments and reassurance for tenures, saying long-term transformation of agricultural land could minimise climate change impacts. 

MaYA and Moviment Graffitti also said agricultural land market values were “currently inflated” and had spiked recently due to the high demand for rural recreational land and dwellings, both of which had to be better regulated in order to safeguard agricultural land.

They recommended that land values be based not on market values, but on established criteria such as water supply, size of land, soil fertility, proximity to access, and other criteria. 

The two NGOs also pointed out that enforcement had been barely mentioned in the White paper, and called for further investment in enforcement so that the measures proposed would not be abused.

They called for agricultural officers who could be empowered to safeguard agricultural lands based on their local expertise. These officers would have a say on Planning Authority decisions, especially on land in the vicinity of development zones, as there can be spillover effects from urbanisation such as water supply, pollution and sewage effluent.