Sustainable agriculture in Malta : a comparative study between conventional and organic agriculture

Abstract

This is an attempt at a comparative study of the two prevalent farming systems in Malta, namely conventional and organic farming. To obtain the necessary information and data, ten farmers, five from each category, have been interviewed. A fieldwork exercise has also been carried out to investigate the growing of watermelons under the two different systems focusing on differences in soil characteristics, quality and yield of produce, economics and environmental impact. It has emerged that the interest of organic farming is very low as the majority of farmers : find it easier to farm environmentally as the soil responds quickly to chemical fertilizers. One major difficulty envisaged by prospective organic farmers is the great change involved in converting from one system to another suffering heavy losses during the first years of conversion. What also puts off organic farmers is the lack of a market and labeling system for their products. With regards to sustainable agriculture, organic farmers view this system from an environmental and social perspective, while conventional farmers view it in economical terms.