A strategic approach to Malta’s new Rural Development Programme, 2014-2020
Professor Janet Dwyer, Dr John Powell and Dr Paul Courtney are undertaking some research for the Ministry of Resources and Rural Affairs in Malta. The CCRI is working with local consultants in Malta, Stefano Mallia and Gordon Cordina, on a strategic approach to development of the new rural development programme on Malta for the period 2014-20.
The overall objective of the work is to develop, in close collaboration with rural actors and stakeholders (both government and private actors), a vision for the future of sustainable agriculture and rural development on the islands of Malta and Gozo, which takes full account of the particular challenges and opportunities arising from the economic, environmental, and social assets, and local needs. Malta faces a range of problems resulting from its peripheral position in Europe, the nature of an island economy which results in high input costs for agriculture, water management issues, high population density, and various management issues linked to land fragmentation and development pressures.
Paul Courtney visits the local pig co-operative
The project has already started to engage with key stakeholders through interviews and the next stage involves discussion groups to explore a range of identified thematic issues, along with economic modeling to explore impacts of alternative measures and CAP reform on the agricultural economy of Malta. A strategy will be developed to enable Malta to make the best possible use of EU funding from both pillars of the new CAP. This strategy will then be explored with all the relevant policy makers, authorities and stakeholder organizations. The strategy will form the foundation on which to build an action plan for preparing the detailed RDP 2014-2020, through an inclusive and iterative process which achieves buy-in from the key actors and interested parties, and thus gives an enhanced probability of the programme’s success in achieving its goals, once implemented. The focus of the work being carried out by CCRI and the local consultants is to develop the action plan that will lead to the production of the RDP, and not to create the RDP itself.
Co-operative for local producers
Recent visits to the islands have identified some of the challenges facing agriculture and rural development in Malta. These include, for example, highly fragmented and small land holdings as a result of structural rigidity in landholdings and inheritance traditions, historical decisions to remove the pre-existing indigenous agricultural sectors of olives, sheep and goat production, scarcity of freshwater resources and rainfall, a relatively intensive indoor livestock production generating large quantities of manure and liquid waste, and reliance upon imported fossil-fuel to power for desalination and to provide electricity. At the same time, Malta has internationally important assets in respect of biodiversity, landscape and cultural heritage which are identified as important for sustaining the islands’ tourism industry, a key economic sectors which generates around a quarter of aggregate economic activity.
