Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi president Malcolm Borg has criticised Project Green’s recent 'free tree’ scheme for field owners, arguing that the authorities should be incentivising food production on agricultural land instead.
“Many farmers and sectors in the farming world are desperate for more land,” Mr Borg said.
“Whether in viticulture, tomato processing or other sectors, all farmers require more land for various reasons and I think it’s a pity that we’re sacrificing 3,000 tumoli of land for trees.”
He said that while some of the eligible trees in Project Green’s scheme – such as olive trees and fig trees – can be harvested for food, the land could have been better maximised, particularly since Malta is so heavily reliant on imported produce.
Project Green launched the Tree Planting Initiative last year, providing owners of fields and agricultural land with free trees for planting. Promoted heavily by podcaster Ricky Caruana, the scheme attracted 2,000 applicants who collectively plan to plant some 115,000 trees on land covering five million square metres (4,450 tumoli).
Asked to suggest an alternative to this scheme, Mr Borg proposed an initiative to incentivise food production, arguing this would be of significant national interest in the long term.
“I think we should identify the biggest gaps in our food chain, such as cereals and oils, and make sure that our available land is utilised to try to close those gaps,” he said.
“It makes strategic sense in terms of looking at the bigger geopolitical picture and preparing for the future. Climate change is making the food production situation worse and some countries have had to reduce their exports after they were hit by flooding or drought.”
“As a country that is heavily reliant on imports, this is going to effect us greatly and it will get worse in the future. I think it makes sense to understand the situation and ensure we prepare for it by making the best possible use of our land. This means that arable land should go towards producing food and closing these gaps.”
As for trees, Mr Borg argued that they should be planted in areas where they can be enjoyed by the general public, rather than simply the landowners who plant them.
“Trees should go in parks, gardens, streets and abandoned land, but agricultural land should be solely used for food production,” he said.
