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Communications |
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Closing address by the Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Agriculture and Fisheries, Dr. Francis Agius, during the Maltese Wine Forum - St.Julian's |
Date:
31/05/2005
The Maltese Wine Industry has been recognized by this Ministry as one of great importance within the agricultural sector and has in fact been declared as a strategic sector. The important role that wine plays in the agricultural sector may be seen both through the intrinsic value it posses as a product and also as a potential medium through which other agro-alimentary products and the Maltese territory itself could be valorized and rendered more attractive.
This role that local wine plays should be encouraged and augmented. This was the key concept behind the wine campaign that the Ministry has promoted. The awareness of the qualities of the local wine product and the educational efforts to promote the particularities of the Maltese environment endowing these characteristics were at the heart of this campaign.
In recent years the wine sector has undergone heavy investment and modernization by the local wineries and farmers. This has led to the production of quality grapes, which yield a variety of quality wines. From the socio-economic point of view this sector has become the livelihood of several families.
In Malta at present there are about 7500 Tumuli under vines and about 2700 farmers registered as growing vines. The new vineyards are being subsidized through a programme that was negotiated with the EU. Another result of these negotiations Malta was granted a total of 9000 tumuli of planting rights for the planting of vines for wine production. These planting rights are being managed by the Viticulture & Oenology Unit through the Vineyard register.
The protection and promotion of Maltese agriculture, as is the case of viticulture, also creates a richer cultural heritage through the creation of greener areas. This also helps in conserving the local environment and improving the Maltese territory.
The Ministry is also in the process of creating the first National Public Enoteca which will be the focal point of future promotional activities for the local wine product and the meeting point between agro-alimentary products and the Maltese territory.
The Ministry truly believes in the importance of the local agricultural produce which is being promoted through yet another campaign aimed at creating an awareness on the freshness, quality and nutritional value of locally produced fruits and vegetables.
The production of quality wines has to find its counterpart in its promotion by the Maltese Catering industry. An appeal to the local catering sector is that without a choice of Maltese products, including wine, Malta is destined to loose its traditional and cultural appeal to foreigners. This would create repercussions on both the agricultural, tourist and catering sectors. Therefore let us promote the local produce beyond the economic concerns in the narrow sense but with the knowledge of contributing towards the sustainability of Malta’s culture and tradition.
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