| Farmers oppose golf course Mr Joseph Farrugia, secretary, Progressive Farmers' Union, Attard. www.timesofmalta.com 7 July 2002 Mr Angelo Xuereb's letter (The Sunday Times, June 30) is full of insinuations and assertions which hardly bother us as a union since these are based on misinformation and to say the least very stupid arguments. First of all it takes us to task because we never made public the names of those who signed the petition to the Prime Minister. How na�ve to even consider we are that na�ve to do so. The petition, signed and sent to the Holy See, had names, addresses and ID number of every petitioner. Mr Xuereb has his grapevine system through which he gets the exact details of those who are adamant in keeping their land and work as agricultural producers. The union knows well the number of those who are ready to relinquish their land. We consider this a free country and never interfere. Mr Xuereb states that he will not take any land from farmers who are not willing to relinquish their right to work it. Great! So what is all the fuss about? Of course by our solid factual reasoning if this is going to happen he will have to build his golf course in mid-air. Teleporting is with us but science fiction is not that real yet. Those who denigrate the land, the soil and, worse, the farmers, in Maltese are classified as the keenest of buyers (min imaqdar irid jixtri). The Maltese farmer is not the Bolivian or Spanish peasant. He never worked on haciendas. In fact Professor Godfrey Wettinger contends that Malta had the highest percentage of farmers who owned their land compared to Europe as far back as the Middle Ages. Farmers who rented the land just paid the rent. There were other systems but these were the exception, not the rule. Saying that we litter the land and the fruit with pesticides is simply not true When Maltese fruit is tested for the presence of pesticides it is found to be very much lower than internationally accepted levels and very much lower than imported fruit. This is because only the least harmful grades of pesticides are allowed in. This imposition by the Agriculture Department is fully supported and insisted upon by all the farmers' unions. This is as erroneous as when Mr Xuereb harps on the fact that only Lm30,000 worth of products are produced in the whole area of about 600 tumoli. The figure is based on records taken from the pitkali markets. Apparently he has never heard of farmers selling directly to hotels and catering establishments who want to have the best and the freshest. It is well known that less than half the produce reaches the pitkali. We are not counting the fodder, yes the over-underestimated fodder which makes up 40 per cent of the total intake of our animals, like cows, goats, sheep, horses, etc. Mentioning the building of Mdina and Valletta in this context shows little knowledge of the self-preservation instincts in man. Anthropology is not Mr Xuereb's forte. When these cities were built, Malta was exposed to all types of marauders, pirates and other invaders. Any reasonable human being would not have only approved but insisted on these being built. Security and safety are top in the survival needs of any creature. Mr Xuereb should not blame the farmers for what they are doing. These are the reflexes of their survival instincts. How much agricultural land was lost in the last 50 years? One last reflection. When in the early Seventies the airport runway was about to be enlarged and lengthened, much fuss was created because agricultural land was being wasted by an administration which was renowned for its keen sense of frugality. Now that about 600 tumoli of prime agricultural land equal to the area of Sliema, where some farmers have invested thousands of liri, is going to waste, Mr Xuereb and his supporters are expecting the sane citizens of Malta who really own the land to jump for joy. |
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