Malcolm Borg speaking about the crisis facing farming in our country left an impression on me.

Borg has set up Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi, an NGO for Maltese farmers, and is trying to prevent what he sees as the otherwise inevitable death of Maltese agriculture within 15 years. Farming in Malta is no longer profitable for many, and many farmers are selling their land to developers. Reports that pesticide was present in higher doses in local produce, coupled with a preference for more aesthetic produce, has pushed people to favour foreign produce in many instances.

Coupled with the other challenges facing local farmers, it has spelled a sharp decline in that sector of our economy. For some, this is not entirely a bad thing. Marco Cremona, one of Malta's foremost water experts, highlights the undue pressure that agriculture puts on our water table, especially as many farmers use boreholes to obtain their water.

However, as Malcolm Borg has said, I agree that the answer to the challenges facing this industry should not be to shut it down or let it die. We must acknowledge the problems caused by farming, such as the excessive use of fertiliser, and deal with them.

At a time when the challenges facing our global climate are only escalating, one of the mantras to avert climate change is to buy local, as less fuel is burned transporting goods. Aside from that, Malcolm Borg has explained that buying local means buying genuinely fresh produce, as abroad, the fruit and vegetables are harvested before maturity, due to the time they will spend on a shelf or in transit. We must also think about the fact that farmers in Malta carry with them much of our tradition, know-how and culture. For them to give it all up and sell their land to developers is an appropriate metaphor for the wider problems facing our country, where our quality of life now has a price tag and is a secondary consideration to profit.

There seems to be little dialogue or political will to improve the situation for farmers. One of the simplest things that can be done to assist farmers is to set up a testing lab for pesticides in Malta, something which Partit Demokratiku's new executive was already talking about in January of this year.

The pitjaklija, which is meant as an auction house for local fruit and vegetables, ends up providing farmers with very ltitle profit due to a lack of transparency, and the fact that middle-men mostly buy the produce. Farmers suffer from a lack of control and bargaining power. Malcolm Borg has also argued in case that what is needed is traceability.

Above all, what is needed for farmers is both education and management resources. It is crucial to install better and more sustainable farming practices. There is a lot which can be done, but the farmers lack the coordination and the government lacks the political will. It is time that changed. We can also move towards better branding, marketing and specialisation in sectors of our agriculture. For example, if there are certain traditions attached to growing olives in Zebbug, that can be taken far, to compete with foreign brands and products. The time to act on this matter is yesterday, but we can start now.