The Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) is a system of European Union (EU) agricultural subsidies and programmes aimed at providing farmers with a reasonable standard of living, consumers with the provision of safe, high-quality and sufficient quantities of food at reasonable prices, and ensures sustainable management of natural resources and

climate action

The CAP traces its origins to the dawn of European integration, back in the 1950s, in the light of the experience of war and post-war shortages in food production across Europe. It was established to subsidise farmers and encourage them to produce more to ensure stable food supplies. Since then, the CAP has undergone substantial changes and has evolved in response to domestic pressures, including changes in agricultural policy priorities, efficiency improvements, internal pressures to reduce trade distortions and budget constraints. Indeed, in recent years the overall EU budget devoted to the CAP has declined substantially, although it still remains a significant component of the total, currently taking over 40% of expenditure, accounting for around €53 billion a year.

With the current financial period (2007-2013) approaching its end, the debate over the future of CAP and its contribution to the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth has been ongoing over the past few years. In this context, the European Commission presented, in 2010, its blueprint for a forward-looking CAP after 2013, entitled ‘The CAP towards 2020: Meeting the food, natural resources and territorial challenges of the future’. This Communication, outlining the broad policy options in order to respond to the future challenges for agriculture and rural areas, was followed by a set of legal proposals which lay down the legislative framework for CAP for the period 2014-2020. They are designed to help the farming sector become more competitive and to make the CAP fairer, greener, more efficient and effective, and more understandable.

Malta’s main priority during this discussion period was to ensure that the CAP reform process provides the right set of tools to safeguard Malta’s agricultural sector, the latter accounting for about 2% of Malta’s Gross Domestic Product and employing 2% of the total workforce. According to the National Statistics Office ‘2010 Census of Agriculture’, the total number of registered part-time farmers was 17,238 people, while those registered as full-time farmers amounted to 1,301 people. Maltese farmers should continue to get the right level and type of support needed to remain active producers and stewards of the rural landscape and our environment.

The Commission is proposing to extend the Single Payment Scheme in all member states. Introduced in Malta in 2007, the Single Payment Scheme, under which aid is no longer linked to production levels (decoupling), aims to support farmers’ income in return for them respecting standards of environmental protection, animal welfare, food safety and keeping the land in good condition.

Malta’s primary concern in this regard remains that of keeping the agricultural sector, including sectors which are socio-economically sensitive, thriving. This may require discussion on another element of the Commission, namely voluntary coupled support in certain sectors – for instance the dairy and tomatoes for processing sectors may need to be sustained through coupled support in the future.

The Commission is also proposing to provide additional aid from the ceiling available under the first pillar of each member state which would be accessible to farmers under 40 years of age during the first five years of their activity.

This measure is needed at a time when only 6% of farmers are under the age of 35 in Europe. Over 4.5 million of them are over the age of 65. Malta is particularly sensitive to this alarming slowdown in the rate of young farmers taking up agricultural activity as this is an acute problem locally; thus Malta supports the Commission’s objective of providing strong incentives to reverse this trend.

Malta also has a very specific situation concerning small farmers, whereby 76% of all farmers cultivate holdings of less than two hectares in size, representing in total 41% of the area eligible. Thus Malta wants to see considerable simplification, particularly with regard to these farmers, because there is scope for reduced administrative burden in terms of the aid applications and the administrative controls.

While small-scale farmers should continue to be supported in view of both the number of farmers and the land surface they maintain, this should be done in a simpler and less burdensome manner when compared to the EU support enjoyed by more professional farmers. Indeed, to avoid unnecessary administrative costs, the Commission is proposing to simplify several CAP mechanisms.

This CAP reform package, which will enter into force by 1 January, 2014,

will be presented by the Director of Agriculture, Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs, during a consultation session, which will be organised by the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee (Meusac) on Thursday,

3 May, 2012, from 4 to 6pm, at Meusac’s premises, 280, Republic Street, Valletta. For registration, contact us on [email protected] or 2200-3300.

Francine Caruana is Executive (EU Policy and Legislation) Meusac