Hon Noel Farrugia, MP, 29 Triq Antonio
Nani, Ghar Barka, Rabat.
The Editor,
Sunday Times,
St. Paul Street,
Valletta.
25th February 2006
Dear Sir,
Gozo Poultry Crisis
Local statistics confirmed that the
poultry industry in Gozo suffered severe
crisis. In fact while production and
slaughtering in 2003 was 1.250.000
heads, in 2005 it fell to under 500.000.
This fact highlights the false
declaration made during 2005 by PM GONZI
and Minister Pullicino that farmers
earnings are increasing. In fact since
2004 and 2005 Labour Opposition has been
warning of this crisis in the sector,
but Government continually denied it.
Therefore it ispertinent to ask " what
policy does the Ministry for Rural
Affairs have to
compensate Gozitans producers and
processors for these losses, due to the
incompetence of the Administration.
Why did the Government not create a
specific policy to reactivate the Gozo
Poultry Industry when a new Poultry
Policy for 2006 was announced recently?
Why is the Minister only now offering
subsidies and re-structuring funds from
the European Union and the government,
on condition that production rises by
20%? Will the Gozitan producers qualify
for a share of these funds ifthey are
not in
a postion to raise production by 20%?
The Minister also said that Government
would be making use of funds that were
not used by the industry in 2004 and
2005. It I am not mistaken, in 2004
there were insufficient funds and
producers were not paid any subsidies
for broilers slaughtered between October
and December since the threshold of 7000
tons had been reached by end September.
Why was the application to the EU for
safeguards refused? Was it because the
application was not in the correct
format or detail? Would
I be correct in stating that no formal
application has ever been submitted by
the Maltese Government and that the
Maltese authorities only made a very
feeble, verbal attempt to protect local
producers? Why did the Ministry deny the
problems for so long that by the time
they woke up, it was too late for Buxom?
Can the Minister inform us how many
people or companies have been caught
defrosting imported frozen chicken to
market as fresh local produce? Can he
name the people or companies who have
been caught falsifying documents to
carry out this fraud which has so
damaged the local poultry sector and
cheated the public?
What measures were taken to stop this
fraud and expose these people or
companies? Why did it take an external
report about this fraud from the Food
and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of
the UN to expose it, when the Ministry's
own controls should have been able to
discover it? Is the public aware that
members of the poultry sector are
instigating legal action against the
Ministry?
The Minister was inaugurating a
modernized chicken processing plant in
Qrendi, on which LM500,000 have just
been invested. Is this investment to be
wasted too, or will this business enjoy
the support from Government that Buxom,
who spent LM800,000, were denied ?
I trust that this business will not
suffer the same fate as that of other
chicken processors to the detriment of
employment and increasing Malta's
dependency on imports.
The Minister needs to be open and
transparent in his dealings, and inform
the Opposition, the poultry processors
and the people, before he does more
damage to the poultry sector and to
Malta's economy. He also needs to listen
to the sector operators and the
Opposition and act promptly in future,
instead of wasting time in denials.
On behalf of the people, I shall be
pressing him in Parliament to answer
these questions, which are vital to the
agri-food sector and to the economy.
Yours faithfully,
Noel Farrugia, MP, Opposition
Spokesperson for Agriculture, Fisheries
and Rural
Development.
