Dairy farmers are being encouraged to sign up for an investment programme to upgrade their facilities through a 50-50 EU funding scheme.

Environment and Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino said that investment was needed for the dairy products sector to move forward and funding has been secured from the European Union. “This investment is needed soon, preferably between 2006 and 2008. The funds fall under the special marketing policy programme for Maltese agriculture as well as the Meeting Standards scheme,” he said.

Mr Pullicino said that in order to benefit from the funding scheme, dairy producers needed to prepare a dossier of what work required doing on their farms along with the relevant quotations. The investment scheme is spilt 50-50 between the EU and the farmers themselves.

“The dairy produce sector is one of the fundamentals of Maltese agriculture and has been in a transitional phase for quite some time now. It is now in a very important phase in its development,” said Mr Pullicino.

He said that changes to the industry have also meant millions of liri in investment in Malta Diary Products’ plant, as well as individual investment on farms by members of the Milk Producers Cooperative.

“More investment should lead to improvements in hygiene, farm and waste management, which should also lead to better cost efficiency and savings,” said Mr Pullicino. He also pointed out that milk depends a lot on the quality of feed grown locally.

Parliamentary secretary Francis Agius met farmers to explain that applications open tomorrow and must be received by 27 July. Proposals will be evaluated by a technical committee. Applications that require a permit from Mepa will be fast-tracked under a procedure that has been set up for the livestock sector.