Rains have arrived but it’s complicated for farmers

Farmers breathed a collective sigh of relief when rain quenched their thirsty fields after the driest October in nearly a century and a November with below average rainfall. But the situation remains a complicated one for cultivators with agriculture experts agreeing the rains arrived “very, very late”.

From 1 September until Friday, a total of 79mm of rainfall was recorded by the Met Office weather station at Malta International Airport. This is a far cry from the precipitation year average of 545.4mm. The precipitation year runs from September 1 to August 31 of each year.

The lack of rain creates problems on many fronts and while some seem obvious others are less so, according to Malcolm Borg from Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi.

One of the impacts is visual as Malta’s countryside remained brown, he said. “By this time of the year, we are used to carpeted fields, but if you go to the Maltese countryside, all you see is bare fields, and it’s because farmers are just now planting their wheat.”

He said around 60% of Maltese agriculture is wheat. “Wheat depends solely on rainwater, and farmers wait for rain to arrive before they plant, or else seeds are eaten by birds or carried away by ants.”

He also said cold, and rain serve as natural pest controllers, with plant-eating species like White Flies, Red Spiders and Thrips, wiped out during autumn.

But the biggest impact is felt in leafy green vegetables, which require volumes of water to grow, he added.

His views were echoed by Jeanette Borg from Malta Youth in Agriculture (MaYA). “You can notice the difference in both size and tenderness as a result of the lack of water. People who cook using Maltese produce notice this difference,” she said.

“Cauliflower, cabbage, artichokes, broccoli – these are vegetables which are part of staple winter dishes, and so if consumers are driven away, it’s a deathblow to the farming industry in Malta,” she said, adding this situation further pushes consumers towards imported vegetables.

Cold and rain are part and parcel of the winter season, Jeanette Borg said, noting that prolonged periods of heat trick trees into thinking they are still in summer.

“Trees start shedding their leaves in autumn as they enter dormancy. During the dormancy period the tree sends most of its vital nutrients to the roots, where they are stored over the winter. If hibernation does not occur, when spring comes around, the fruit is less tasty, and is not as abundant,” she said.

But with the sun and heat contributing to the growth of plants and vegetables, farmers also have to contend with a different reality that hits their pockets.

“Vegetables grow faster, and this is a disadvantage to farmers, who would prefer to disperse their produce throughout the season, rather than having the market flooded with the same product since this drops the price and profit margins are much lower,” Malcolm Borg said.

Left to right: Malcolm Borg from Ghaqda Bdiewa Attivi and Jeanette Borg from Malta Youth in Agriculture

Climate change the root to all problems

Jeanette Borg said the situation is a clear case of the impacts caused by global warming.

“I can’t understand the climate change sceptics honestly. Sunny days have increased drastically, we are witnessing extreme weather conditions. These are all facts,” she said.

Jeanette Borg said the impact of climate change is coupled with the take up of arable land for infrastructural projects.

“What do we expect? With the high-temperatures tarmac emits and rain clouds which come over Malta are pushed away immediately,” she said.

The discussion on climate change comes against the backdrop of the UN COP28 summit in Dubai.

Speaking on Friday, Prime Minister Robert Abela acknowledged a lack of tangible results in addressing global environmental crises despite annual gatherings.

“On a local level, we’ve done a lot. If you’d ask me if it’s not enough, I would say there’s still much to do,” Abela said.

Abela bluntly stated “doing nothing is not an option.”

He highlighted the potential consequences of inaction by pointing to recent catastrophic storms, such as the one narrowly avoided by Malta but devastatingly hitting Greece and subsequently moving towards Libya.

Tariffs on ground water a good move?

Despite constant warnings by hydrologists on the depletion of Malta’s increasingly salinised groundwater resources, abstraction has been left unregulated and unbilled for the past decades.

But a green paper issued for public consultation two weeks ago, proposes an unprecedented tariff system based on the volumes abstracted from the water table. The tariff still must be quantified, and it remains unclear whether the new permitting system will be strictly limited to those boreholes registered in 2008 to avoid another amnesty.

Each farming operation will be allocated a quota based on factors such as land-area, the crops cultivated, and farm-size as well as environmental factors. Livestock farmers will be provided with an annual quota depending on the livestock units on the farm.

Asked whether she agreed with the move, Jeannette Borg took a more critical approach.

“It is a limited resource, but if authorities want to curb on abuse, they know full well who is abusing: people applying to be farmers in order to extract water from the boreholes,” she said.

Jeannette Borg insisted farmers are the last group of people to waste water.

“This is the uncomfortable truth. It is good that this limited resource will be protected, but authorities should first ensure they carry out proper enforcement before implementing any tariffs,” she said. “It’s unfair for farmers to get the blame.”

Malcom Borg on the other hand welcomed the move, saying instilling a culture of good governance in the country’s water management is needed.

“The more sustainable we are, the more we benefit, especially farmers,” he said. “It is also positive that farmers will get a free quota.”