Cost-benefit appraisal of investment in Maltese agriculture, 1960-1969 : a retrospective study

Abstract

The past decade was characterized by the rapid expansion of the tourist and manufacturing sectors. Whereas the contribution of these sectors to the national economy increased substantially during this period, that of agriculture rose relatively by a small amount. This does not, however, undermine the importance of agriculture which still contributes a fair share to the gross domestic product. The Third Development Plan for the Maltese Islands 1969-74, while referring to agriculture, says that this sector "should be efficient and prosperous even if it gives full employment to only a small proportion of the population". Nevertheless, although full-time employment in this primary sector has declined sharply in these last ten years, and farmers' income has increased, there still remains a wide gap between earnings from agriculture and earnings from other sectors such as manufacturing and tourism. In this essay, I shall, besides appraising the costs and benefits involved in agriculture, give a brief review (in Chapter III) of some of the important aspects of agriculture, such as employment, foreign exchange earnings and the contribution to the balance of payments.