The low precipitation registered in 2022 was not good news for the agricultural sector, which continues to struggle with a changing climate that is causing more hardship to an already beleaguered sector.

The Active Farmers Association expressed its great concern in comments to The Malta Independent on Sunday, saying that this is unfortunately a pattern that is repeating itself.

“This is unfortunately a problem (the lack of rainfall) which has become a common one and that we are facing on a yearly basis,” it said.

Rainfall in 2022 was the second lowest in the last decade, with only 368 millimetres of precipitation recorded. The worst year, in terms of rainfall, since 2012 was 2016, when 324.8 millimetres of rainfall were recorded.

The year 2020 was not much better, with 386.9 millimetres recorded.

In this last decade, the best year for rainfall was 2018, when nearly 600 millimetres were recorded, followed by 556.2 in 2021 and 546.2 in 2019.

But, as the records show, in two of the last three years Malta got less than 400mm of rainfall.

Contacted by The Malta Independent on Sunday, the Met Office said that the total precipitation measured during 2022 “was significantly lower than the average precipitation amount (1991-2021) of 543mm”.

However in the last decade (2012-2022) this average was surpassed only three times – 2018 (599.7mm), 2019 (546.2mm) and 2021 (556.2mm).

The Farmers Association said that this rainfall shortage is compounding the problems being faced in the agricultural sector, especially to those farmers whose farm work revolves around the growing and cultivation of “live products”, which need water to survive and grow.

A spokesperson for the association said that there are two types of soil in Malta: unirrigated land (baghli) and irrigated land (saqwi).

He said that unirrigated land depends solely on rainwater and thus it is the most affected when rainfall levels are not adequate.

Generally, on unirrigated land, only types of grain, which are used to feed cows and other animals, are cultivated. Thus the lack of rainfall is also affecting animals which produce milk and meat.

“When it doesn't rain, these products either don't grow or grow very little, which affects the producers’ profit,” the association spokesman said.

Many farmers then opt to use groundwater on their irrigated land, but even here problems exist if not enough rain hits the islands. When rainfall is lacking, groundwater levels are also affected, resulting in the groundwater becoming saltier and not ideal for crops.

He said that when groundwater does not have a proportionate mix of rainwater and sea water, the water that farmers obtain for their crops is of a lower quality and this affects their production.

“When it does not rain, the quality of the groundwater is greatly reduced because its salt content increases. An increase in salinity is to the detriment of the farmer because salty water is not good for irrigation.”

A reduction in rainfall is one of the effects of climate change that is being experienced all over the world and Malta is no exception to this.

Over the past years, we have seen hotter summers, with heat waves becoming more frequent and longer. Added to this, winters are becoming milder too, and the balmy weather we have experienced in the past weeks, is an example of this.

Earlier this month the Met Office said that December was the warmest in a century, with little precipitation and higher than average temperatures. This balmy weather was also experienced in other parts of southern Europe.

The mean maximum temperature last month was 19.5°C, the highest since 1922, which is more than two degrees higher than the 17.5°C norm for the month. The highest temperature recorded last month was on 16 December at 22.6°C.