The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights Anton Refalo, together with the Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Chris Bonett, announced the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for Malta 2023-2027.
For this operational program, which forms part of the €2.2 billion package successfully negotiated by the Maltese Government, an investment of €166 million has been allocated.
In a news conference, in the presence of many partners working in the field, it was explained how these funds will positively affect the sector and the Maltese and Gozitan villagers and farmers.
Minister Anton Refalo spoke about how this plan of European funds for the next seven years, will see a substantial increase in the allocation for direct payments to improve the economic situation of farmers. He explained that through these funds several schemes will be issued including a scheme for young farmers to acquire agricultural land; schemes aimed at improving animal rights and protection; and schemes with a greater emphasis on organic farming with ambitious targets. The minister went on to say that apart from direct payments, the plan will also offer help for investments such as the modernization of farms, the purchase of machinery to improve efficiency in farming, investments in agricultural structures such as walls of rubble, investments in renewable energy and in research and cooperation initiatives between entities and the farmers themselves, and technical assistance from Agriconnect’s advisory services.
Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Chris Bonett claimed that in the coming time the criteria that should appear in the expression of interest for the local action groups will be discussed with the Monitoring Committee of the European Commission.
“With the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy for Malta 2023-2027 we will be supporting the agricultural sector to move towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. We want agriculture to become a stronger link in the broad strategy of our country. With the €166 million we want to support the sector so that it grows and becomes more resilient while protecting the country’s natural resources and biodiversity”, said Chris Bonett.
Apart from benefiting from European funds, farmers and villagers will be benefiting from other schemes launched by the government, including training schemes for young farmers for the protection of animals as well as a voucher scheme for fertilizers in order to reduce the economic burden resulting from the war inside Ukraine, among others.
