Every day, the farmers pray for rain. Go to a typical farming village, such as Siggiewi and Mgarr in the morning and a trend begins to become apparent. Farmers seem to wrap up their morning’s work and head to one of the old man bars or kazini for a typical strong sweet tea with condensed milk in a glass.

While at first glance it all looks very jovial and quaint, the reality could not be more different. Farmers are wrapping up their morning’s work early because the land is currently so dry and difficult to till that they are even finding difficulty in growing hardy winter crops.

Word is out that crops are failing, the usual broad bean glut has been blighted by a very poor harvest so far. While pods have been large, the beans inside are tiny. Farmers usually rely on winter to give the fields a good soaking to recover in time for Spring and Summer when they assist crops with drip irrigation systems. This year, the lack of rain has caused the land to become bone dry and is costing them a fortune as they have to use drip irrigation to help the crops along.

In addition, the unseasonal weather has led to crops being destroyed by pests such as birds and insects, which are both out and about due to the unseasonal warm weather. It might all seem trivial, but what about the consumer?

Going back to the word on the street amongst veg van sellers and good old housewife gossip, we are all in for a big shock this year as prices of fruit and vegetables are expected to skyrocket. This will lead to consumers looking for cheaper imported options, which are usually inferior in terms of nutritional value as well as the use of pesticides and artificial fertilizer.

This, of course, will also feature the impact of more pesticides being used locally by farmers who try to stave off insect infestations, particularly moth caterpillars with a voracious appetite for cauliflowers, broccoli and cabbages.

So what to do about it? Society often forgets and undervalues the farming community. They already have a hard time of it given the massive crop rotation they have to go through to keep their tiny fields in a good enough condition to be able to grow our staples, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbages, beans and the like. But with this added burden on them, could we see the system start to creak under its own weight of expenses? Young farmers are few and far between nowadays. Many are leaving the family’s farming ventures, opting for further education and a white collar job. In other words, does the government have a contingency plan?

It is clear that the cracks are already showing. A study definitely needs to be carried out as soon as possible. Some argue that this year’s drought and warm weather is a one off. It could be, but it could also be the first tangible signs that Malta’s agricultural produce is being affected by climate change. We are one of the few places on earth where produce from the land is so healthy and nutritious, mostly thanks to farmers who still use traditional rotation and traditional fertilization through growing legumes and spreading muck on the fields. It would be a travesty to lose this excellent produce. We must also think beyond the tip of our nose. While everyone might be thinking about their own pocket, let us not forget that our unique quisine and produce are part of our tourism product. What if that were to begin to suffer too?