Farmers demand government action to stop sale of fields for recreational use

The non-agricultural use and division of rural fields in Malta is leading  to drastic changes in the island’s landscape, where what were once cultivated fields have now been turned into tiny plots separated by low walls, empty or overgrown with wild grass, invasive trees or high walls along the road for privacy, being used for cars or bouncy castles for children’s parties.

The complaint, and warning, comes from 24 agricultural NGOs and lobbies along with the Chamber of Architects, who have called on the government, and the public, to recognise that the use of farmland for recreational purposes should cease immediately.

“The demand for using farmland for non-agricultural purposes has exploded in recent years due to various factors, ranging from the need for outdoor activities during the COVID pandemic, excessive urbanisation, a lack of open spaces in urban areas, and other reasons,” said Malcolm Borg, of Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi.

Adding to the woes of farmers is that new generations of landowners and retired agriculturalists have no interest in farming, and are instead liquidating the fields.

“In exceptional cases, even producers who found themselves struggling to manage their businesses found it attractive to sell the land they worked,” Borg said.

“Not only: these various landowners began dividing the land into small plots since buyers’ recreational needs were for small pieces of land, maximising profits with an astronomical increase in the price of farmland – 20 times higher than the average price in the EU.”

Borg said Malta’s landholding crisis was talking place in a world where food security is becoming increasingly precarious, and the climate crisis was increasingly threatening food production. “Our country’s vulnerability to such waves is very high since it imports more than three-quarters of the food consumed by the population. This is why every patch of soil must be protected with all our might, and its potential to produce food must be ensured to be fully realised,” Borg said.

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The NGOs said the recreational use of productive farmland was a serious threat to Malta’s country’s ability to sustain food production.

“It is also, frankly, absurd that while we have land being used for a million non-agricultural purposes, many professional farmers are searching for more land to work on to produce food for the local market,” Borg said.

He cited Malta’s tomato processing and grape production sector for wine as an example. “The entire agricultural industry is searching for land to produce food and drink while contributing economically. But farmland is nowhere to be found! Because it’s being taken for speculation! And the land on the market is priced at a level that can never be justified for food and drink production alone.”

The NGOs said the sale of agricultural land for recreational purposes had to stop immediately. “It is essential to ensure that productive land is used for productive purposes, that farmland is entrusted to those who know and want to work it, and that the Maltese rural landscape is safeguarded with everything that genuinely makes it rural,” Borg said.

“We must act now to protect our country’s farmland so that it continues to fulfil its function as it has since people first set foot on it – to produce the food and drink that keep us alive.”