Government offers legal assistance to farmers at risk of eviction, PN proposes scheme to help farmers buy fields

The government and the Nationalist Party have, separately, proposed schemes to help farmers.

The Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Animal Rights will be assisting those farmers who are being faced with eviction from privately leased agricultural land by providing technical and legal support to alleviate the financial burden due to legal actions and court cases.

These services will be provided through the Ministry’s Agriculture Advisory Services ( AgriConnect).

“The government believes that the agricultural sector is essential for the country and plays a multifunctional role, ranging from food production to environmental conservation. In this regard, the government has a duty to support the agricultural sector through policies that guarantee the continuity of farming and ensure an adequate level of income for farmers,” the Ministry for Agriculture said in a statement.

In the Judgment of the Constitutional Court of 23 November 2020 in the names “J& C Properties Limited vs Nazzareno Pulis and Others”, the Constitutional Court found that the Agricultural Leases ( Reletting) Act ( Chapter 199) violates the fundamental rights to the enjoyment of property and to the proper hearing of the landlord. As a consequence to this sentence, “farming is being threatened by the possible eviction of farmers from privately rented land,” the ministry added.

The government considers that the Agriculture Leases Act is intended to ensure that agricultural land is farmed and not converted to non- agricultural uses such as recreational activities.

Farmers registered with the Agriculture Directorate who have been threatened, given notice of eviction, or taken to court by the landlord can benefit from the government initiative. Request for support to benefit from technical or legal advice can be made by contacting AgriConnect on 21804981/ 2/ 4 or via email on agriconnect. mafa@ gov. mt or by visiting one of the offices in Mellieħa, Qormi, Żabbar or Victoria, Gozo.

Farmers involved in ongoing court cases, those notified of a court case, or those whose landlord has not accepted the annual rent, can be provided with legal assistance to represent them in court. The Ministry will also assist in depositing the rent in court on their behalf.

The Nationalist Party had, prior to the government’s announcement, made a number of proposals by which, if elected, it would help farmers.

In a press conference outside the Pitkalija on Tuesday, the PN said that it had come up with two schemes which would help farmers buy agricultural land which they work or which would help them pay their agricultural lease at a “just price” to the owner of the land.

The first scheme would see a PN government help farmers acquire the fields they work through a loan with no interest and no guaranteed expense through a purposebuilt fund available as a bank guarantee.

Such a scheme would be open to all existing farmers who want to acquire fields from the private sector, the party said before adding that this would indirectly address the question of the need for a just price for private land which is currently under scrutiny in court.

The said scheme would also be open to young farmers who wish to start working in the agricultural industry.

Under the second scheme, a Nationalist government would provide direct financial aid on the payment of agricultural leases on private land.

The party said that the scheme would see the government reimburse 70% of the cost of the rent to farmers who prove that they are producing fruit and vegetables which is being sold on the local market.

The scheme would also be joined with subsidies which would come through the European Rural Programme for greening measures which introduce biodiversity in the Maltese countryside.

The party said that the schemes would be voluntary and without prejudice to other negotiations which may be on- going between the private sector and farmers on private agricultural l eases, and without prejudice to any court sentences.

The PN also proposed, independently from the schemes above, that there is the need to hurry regularisation processes on government agricultural leases and that a number of cases of such leases with the government which are still pending be decided. For this purpose, the party said that an administrative ad hoc board which has the ability to decide on such cases in a short period of time and give instructions to government authorities such as the Lands Department, should be set up.