The rules governing pitkala middlemen who auction farmers’ produce are set to be overhauled after tensions boiled over last month.
The government plans on contracting these middlemen, previously self-employed, to provide the auctioning service for farmers twice a week.
In April,
Times of Malta reported how all of Malta’s registered pitkala had their licences suspended after they refused to put a guarantee in place to stop farmers from being left in the lurch.
For the past few weeks, farmers ended up having to sell their produce themselves at the pitkalija produce market, traditionally operated by middlemen.
The pitkalija opens twice a week and sees hundreds of farmers drop off thousands of kilos of fresh fruit and vegetables that are then traditionally auctioned off to supermarkets, grocers and hawkers.
Farmers are reported to have worked together to sell their produce on Monday morning after most of the middlemen, who traditionally auction fruit and vegetables to sellers, had their licences suspended.
The Malta Youth in Agriculture Foundation (MaYA) said the farmers managed to avert the “total chaos” predicted at the Pitkalija market in the early hours.
The foundation said they witnessed farmers working together, but that the disruption from the Pitkala Association “didn’t come without losses” and that the full consequences of the situation were still to be fully evaluated.
“The situation would have also been worse had there not been a dedicated ministry with a sufficient set of decision-makers to intervene and assist in a timely and decisive manner.”
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