Joseph Muscat comes from an established Maltese farming family with nine hectares of land, but is still struggling to remain competitive in the current agricultural climate of rising costs, strict rules, and unfair competition.
Muscat, 55, is one of around 1,000 farmers on the small Mediterranean island of Malta who works long hours, including weekends and public holidays, to ensure that families have food on the table. In his greenhouse in Mgarr, northern Malta, Muscat told Xinhua that he has five greenhouses equipped with irrigation systems, covering an area of 15,000 square meters.
"A farm with eight or nine hectares is considered to be very big here because Malta is a very small country," he said. This year, he and his brothers, their spouses and three part-time farmers are growing 21,000 tomato plants and 4,000 aubergine plants. His family produces around 250 tons of tomatoes per year.
"The tomato season is very long. We keep them in the greenhouse for nine months. We start the season at the end of August, start harvesting in November and keep it running until mid-June of the following year," Muscat said. "It requires a lot of work because tomatoes grow every week, so every week we have to prune and turn them."
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