A census of greenhouses undertaken in February 2007, to obtain structural and economic information on the use of greenhouses within the agricultural sector in Malta, found that at the time of enumeration, 338 agricultural holdings had a total of 1,168 greenhouse structures with a combined surface area under greenhouses of 59.5 hectares, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

194 agricultural holdings (57.4 per cent) had a combined surface area of 9.8 hectares (16.4 per cent), with an average area under greenhouses of 0.05 hectares. On the other hand, 46 agricultural holdings (13.6 per cent) had a combined surface area under greenhouses of 31.9 hectares, an average area of 0.69 hectares of greenhouses per agricultural holding.

Metal/polythene structures are the most commonly used greenhouses in Malta, accounting for 86.0 per cent of all greenhouses and 91.5 per cent of the surface area under greenhouses.

Single span greenhouses are also prevalent. In fact, 73.9 per cent of all greenhouses are of the single span type covering a total surface area under greenhouses of 25.4 hectares. The remaining greenhouses are multispan greenhouses with a combined surface area of 34.2 hectares.

The most common use of irrigation in greenhouses is drip irrigation. 1,059 greenhouses (90.7 per cent) use drip irrigation as a source of irrigating crops. The total area under greenhouses using drip irrigation amounted to 54.7 hectares.

Greenhouse structures vary by age and structure. Whereas 87.8 per cent of all wood/glass are 25 years old and over, only 2.9 per cent of all metal/polythene structures are 25 years old and over. In fact, 69.4 per cent of all metal/polythene structures are 15 years old or less.

Greenhouse structures differ in size. 554 (47.4 per cent) greenhouses have a surface area of less than 0.028 hectares, the total surface area of these greenhouses being 9.74 hectares (16.4 per cent), or an average of 0.018 hectares per greenhouse. On the other hand, 34 structures had a surface area greater than 0.224 hectares, with the total surface area being 13.1 hectares or 0.386 hectares on average per greenhouse.

Greenhouse structures in the Maltese islands are mainly utilised for the production of vegetables (79.1 per cent), mainly tomatoes. On the other hand, 11.4 per cent of the total surface area was utilised for the production of flowers and pot plants.

An estimated 7,399 tonnes of fresh vegetables were produced in greenhouses in 2006, yielding Lm1.9 million. Cut flowers and pot plants yielded a combined value of Lm0.7 million in 2006.

The total intermediate consumption of greenhouses in 2006 was estimated at Lm0.97 million, of which 59.1 per cent of all intermediate consumption was expended on agricultural holdings with a combined area of 0.336 hectares or more of greenhouse area. The four main sources of costs in greenhouse production in 2006 were seeds and seedlings (25.7 per cent), fertilisers (13.2 per cent), plant protection products (18.1 per cent), and plastic (12.3 per cent).

These four items together made up 69.3 per cent of all intermediate consumption of greenhouses in 2006.