Hydroponic agriculture in Malta

Abstract

Hydroponics is quite a new technique in the Maltese Islands. However the advantages of this branch of agriculture are quite considerable. In this project I tried to give an overview of the technique and simple suggestions on the construction of hydroponic installations in the Maltese island keeping in mind the various difficulties encountered when practicing conventional agriculture in Malta and comparing them to the solutions that hydroponics gives. Literature about hydroponics in Malta is very limited, if not, in existent. Through case studies of the two practicing hydroponic installations present in the Maltese islands I tried to give the description of how the technique is being carried out in Malta. I asked the farmers about the different aspects of hydroponic work starting from why they decided to set up the unit to the major expenses they encounter during their routine work. Through personal communication with both farmers, one can notice that hydroponics, although the expenses for setting up are very high, however they can establish themselves quite well in the Islands especially when producing out of season crops. For these reasons I can conclude that further investment in hydroponics especially in fields which have not been studied extensively yet (for example, the production of plants for hydroponic pharmaceutical plants) may be quite advantageous for the economy of the Maltese Islands