A 19-year-old Gozitan man who is a first-generation farmer has been featured by the Office of the European Parliament in Malta, promoting agriculture and local food production.

Matthew Zerafa is celebrated for choosing the vocation of his own accord as many modern day farmers of these generations are often following in their family's footsteps.

In a short video-clip and comment uploaded to social media, it was said that Zerafa's dream is to continue working in this sector and start a sheep-farm through the help of EU funds.

This comes against a backdrop of the local government launching a consultation period for a National Agricultural Policy. The aim is to identify key challenges in the local agricultural sector such as land management, competitiveness, traceability of local produce, incentivising young farmers, climate change and water usage.

Zerafa is featured working his land, describing how he gets up each morning at 6am, and spends the day working until about 8pm. He describes the land he is cultivating as "heaven on earth".

Zerafa says that sitting still was never for him. He went on to describe how many people pass over his produce at the vegetable markets in favour for foreign products. With a look of perseverance, Zerafa says he will not give up.