The Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC) is responsible for the dissemination of EU related information in Malta. In pursuance of this aim, MEUSAC submitted an application for an EU funded project consisting of an information measure entitled EU’s CAP: Now and Beyond. The project aims to clarify and raise public understanding about the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its future. The EU places great importance on food and food producers, ensuring that food is produced in a way which protects the countryside, the environment, animals and wildlife. In recent years there have been several reforms of the CAP to reinforce the EU’s standards and to encourage many European farmers to provide services that are more competitive and market-oriented. In the meantime, a number of challenges like market instability, inconsistent incomes and climate change, have become persistent in the agricultural sector and have become items on the agenda of EU level discussions when the Europe 2020 Strategy and the future of the CAP are being debated.
Way back in April of this year, the European Commission launched a public debate on the future of the CAP. This debate was open until last June and was concluded by a conference in Brussels for farmers, environmental protection associations, consumers, and animal welfare groups alike. The public debate also contributed to determine the composition of the next Financial Perspective of the EU from 2014 to 2020. A few weeks ago, following a number of discussions held within the EU’s institutions and the public debate, the European Commission published a draft Communication on the future of the CAP towards 2020. Proposals were submitted for the development of CAP. There is need for consensus on the need for ‘a strong common policy structured around its two pillars’: direct aid payment and traditional market support instruments and the rural development pillar.
As for MEUSAC’s information campaign, a number of activities are being organised in close collaboration with the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs (MRRA) and the Permaculture Research Foundation. All those involved in the local agricultural sector and other stakeholders as well the general public and school children, are being invited to take part in this campaign.
One of the most recent activities under this campaign was the publication of a leaflet entitled Towards Sustainable Agriculture. With the assistance of the Permaculture Research Foundation, the leaflet provides brief information about the CAP, Organic Farming and Agricultural Product Quality. Since last July, the European organic food label – the Euro-Leaf has become mandatory throughout the EU.
Between the last week of October and the second week of December a number of visits by primary school students to the Għammieri Government Farm are taking place. These visits are being organised in collaboration with the MRRA. Each visit consists of an interactive educational experience of not more than two hours. It includes a farm tour, a session where students are invited to sow seeds, the distribution to each student of yoghurt and a number of publications related to the agricultural sector. To coincide with these visits, a Calendar Competition has been launched in which all primary schools students in Malta and Gozo can participate. The competition will lead to the selection of 12 drawings that will feature in a Green Calendar for next year and which will eventually be distributed to primary school students and to the general public. Each winner will receive a vegetable growing kit. The deadline for the submission of entries is Friday, December 17. Those interested in obtaining a free copy of Towards Sustainable Agriculture should do so by contacting MEUSAC. Further details about the visits and how one may register to participate, or about the Green Calendar Competition, can be obtained from MEUSAC on tel. 2200 3300 or from the website http://www.meusac.gov.mt. Registration by schools for the visits is on a first come first served basis.
Brenda Azzopardi is an Information Executive at MEUSAC