By Prof. Everaldo Attard from the Institute of Earth Systems
Although farmers have been supplying restaurants and hotels for the past years, this current situation has significantly affected their operations. They have the opportunity to sell their own produce to the consumer directly.
Most farmers and even hawkers are promoting and monitoring produce and services through social media.
Although social distancing is very important and should be maintained, farmers are getting closer to the community. This will definitely change the way farmers will operate in the future, when hopefully the situation improves and our way of living gets back to normal. Therefore, farmers should take advantage of the current situation to improve their operations on the field and also their customer service.
There’s also the reality that local agricultural businesses have suffered significantly during these past years, due to several reasons, particularly, the aging farming population, water scarcity and environmental challenges, introduction of pests and diseases, division of land by inheritance and renting of land, amongst others.
Although, local agriculture may not guarantee food security on the islands, this definitely plays an important role primarily in the livelihood of the farming community and also in providing fresh local produce to the local consumer with a minimal carbon footprint. Being an island state, Malta has suffered several food shortages in the past and this may still pose a problem in the near future.
Therefore, both the local consumer and the Government should support the farming community in several ways. The local consumer could support the farming community by opting for the local produce, while the Government may provide support through state aid and by facilitating the operations of the farmers through, for example, supplying second class water to those farmers who are in areas deprived of a water source.
Presently, food waste generated by restaurants and hotels, has been reduced significantly and presumably the current food waste issue stays with producers from the primary sector and households. Producers of perishable goods such as some farmers, herdsmen and fishers may end up with a source of produce that cannot be managed over a short period of time. This might lead to food waste. On the other hand, at this point in time, some of the local inhabitants are not yet aware that food scarcity may become an issue in the near future. There are also others who are spending money more cautiously on the actual needs of the household. This may indirectly lead to a reduction in food wastage.
