Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo provided assistance during the opening of the grape harvesting season for wine production.

The Minister said that after a lot of preparation, it is now time for dozens of farmers to begin cutting the grapes that they have sowed and cultivated with so much dedication.

“The quality in the final product requires dedication and skill from both farmers and harvesters,” he said, “It also requires continuous work from the Agriculture Directorate which has the responsibility to follow and certify the wine production process.”

The Chief Agricultural Officer from the Agriculture Directorate, Darren Borg, explained that this past grape growing season was not characterised by too many diseases and insect issues. He also said that where these types of cases were observed, the necessary monitoring was carried out and additional treatments against such diseases and insects were avoided, through the guidelines (IPM) offered by the Directorate.

He also mentioned that in spite of this, the sector continues to face several challenges – primarily, these setbacks relate to drought from lack of rainfall.

Quality wine is a product that is directly linked to the Maltese islands, and is sought after by tourists visiting the country, the Ministry noted. It also remarked that the quality of Maltese wine is recognised by the European Union and that this helps strengthen the importance of the local agricultural sector.