On 26 June 2003, the European Council of Ministers approved a radical reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The reform is oriented towards the interests of the consumers, while sustaining the income of the farmers. Furthermore, the reform permits farmers to produce what the market demands.
In terms of major balance and social justice, and as a consequence to the reform, the public expenditure directed to the agricultural sector will have a wider compensation in terms of food quality, protection of the environment and animal welfare, protection of the landscapes and of the national cultural patrimony.
To reach these objectives, the aid to farmers will be decoupled from the production and will fully respect the environmental conditions with regards to food safety, animal welfare and safety at work. Such aid shall be shifted considerably to the rural development, the adoption of new measures that are intended to promote quality in production, food safety and animal welfare.
Through the CAP Reform, there will be a decoupling of the aid which will result in a single payment. The aim of the decoupling is to transfer the aid from the product to the producer, thus improving market-oriented production. In this way, farmers will improve their production to greater market opportunities, with consumers benefiting from better quality products.
Malta decided to adopt the Single Payment Scheme as from 2007. Our country opted to adopt the Single Payment Scheme instead of the Single Area Payment Scheme as this was deemed more appropriate to local circumstances and the ministry has always sought to push the case against “the one size fits all” argument. The single payment will be based on historical data from 2006.
Farmers will be paid a single payment at the end of each year. The payment will be based on entitlements. Farmers that can benefit from this scheme are those who lease, buy or inherit entitlements and farmers to whom an entitlement will be allocated from EU funding. In order to receive an annual payment, farmers have to submit an annual application.
The CAP reform also encompassed the fruit and vegetable reform. As from 2008, land producing fruit and vegetables will become eligible for payment entitlements under the decoupled aid scheme. For this purpose Malta will have a higher budgetary ceiling and the money at our disposal for distribution to farmers will be higher than current levels. All existing support for processed tomatoes will also be decoupled. The SMPPMA payments however will remain coupled.
The ministry’s aim is to apply the CAP reform in the best way possible to enhance the competitiveness of Maltese agriculture.
We aim to use the CAP reform as effectively as possible and to address environmental considerations, animal welfare, food quality and food safety, alongside the priority to provide Maltese farmers with income support alongside SMPPMA payments.
The challenge now is to implement the Single Payment Scheme as efficiently as possible but keeping in view audit and reporting obligations to the European Commission.
These are exciting and challenging times for Maltese agriculture and though we need to make sure that the objectives of CAP reform are reached, we also need to ensure that production-based considerations are also taken into account.
CAP reform was endorsed by the EU prior to Malta’s accession and though there are positive aspects inherent in the reform, one should not lose sight of the fact that non-production based payments mat not always bring about the intended outcomes and the way forward is to combine them effectively with production-based payments (SMPPMA) as long as these remain in force.
Dr Francis Agius is
Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Fisheries