The world reeled as oil prices skyrocketed over past years – yet we have learnt to deal with it. The crisis has by no means abated, prices hover at around $80 per barrel, yet by implementing subsidies, passing some of the burden over to the consumer and also by shrewder dealings, Malta has come to term with this phenomenon.

It was not easy and many thought the energy price increases were a very bitter pill to swallow – but we have come to terms with it and the country is in fact experiencing relatively good economic growth in spite of it all.

We are now faced with another problem – the global inflation of agricultural products. Malta, as any other country in the world, can expect to be affected by this latest tumult and we should not expect any different. The root of the problem is bad cereal and grain yields around the world. Over the past few years, the European Union has encouraged its farmers to grow biofuel products rather than cereals and therein lies our main problem. As a result of bad yields, traditional wheat, grain and cereal growing countries have decided not to export their products and that is where inflation is created. There is not enough available supply to satisfy demand. Many will probably surmise that the problem will be localised in the ‘off the shelf’ produce, but this is not the case at all. We must remember what livestock eat – fodder. What is fodder made out of? Bingo – grains and cereals (god forbid we ever see a return of offal fodder and BSE). Once the price of fodder goes up – then all local produce will have to match that increase. Perhaps our vegetables will not be that badly affected, but the meat market, eggs, poultry, milk and many others will definitely suffer.

The government has already declared its intention to act by firstly consulting local farmers and producers on what can be done to minimise the impact on both the local industry and consumers. It is good to see that parliamentary secretary Tonio Fenech has already pledged help in this regard, but perhaps it might be a better idea to set up a committee or a task force to brainstorm and come up with more ideas. This would obviously include the same Mr Fenech, parliamentary secretary Frans Agius and representatives from the agricultural sector.

We are sure that if the right heads are brought together, Malta will find a solution to the problems it will be facing. We only need to take the oil crisis as an example. A solution was found, the effects could have been much worse. What we do stress, though, that lessons should be learned. This time, the government will have the benefit of hindsight. While, as we have said, we have dealt with the problems arising from the oil hike, we are sure that some mistakes were made – it’s a normal thing to happen in a situation such as that. This time the government can retrace its steps and make sure that any procedural mistakes made before will be avoided. The most important thing to close is that this new crisis should not be used as a political football. The opposition should recognise that the government is working on it, and should, by all accounts put forward its own suggestions. After all, it is in the national interest. Failure to do so would go against what the MLP says it stands for, protection of workers.