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Speech by the Hon. Dr. Francis Agius, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Fisheries. On the occasion of the launching of Maltese potato export to the German market. |
Date:
25/04/2005
It is indeed a great pleasure and honor that today we are all gathered here as guests of Jansen-Dongen Edika – Minden, The Greenery and Messrs Daalimpex B.V. to inaugurate the Maltese spring potato export to Germany. This year, 2005, signifies the beginning of a new market for Maltese potatoes from the smallest EU nation – Malta to the largest – Germany. I am confident that Jansen-Dongen Edika shall prosper and have the same success as the companies of Messrs Hage International and Daalimpex B.V. when presenting our Maltese potatoes in the German supermarkets chain of Reichelt Berlin of the Edika group.
As Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Agriculture, it gives me great satisfaction to be here to launch our first Mediterranean Maltese spring potato bag to my German colleagues, in the presence of distinguished guests so versant in the potato industry.
The potato has become one of the main agricultural products and the foremost to be exported. This sector involves over 800 small-scale farmers who grow their potatoes from certified Dutch seeds and follow the EuropeGap protocol of good agricultural practice. This method gives top priority to EU standards of cultivation and food safety, putting greater emphasis on quality over quantity. This farm-to-fork approach is in line with EU Agricultural Policy and the initialisation of this market coincides with Malta’s first year as a member of the Enlarged EU 25.
Today all Maltese potato growers are committed to provide the highest standards of their crop and in return rightfully expect a just remuneration for their efforts. It is indeed my great satisfaction that in my first year as the first Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Agriculture and Fisheries in Malta, I am assisting in the launching of this new market.
Some grow; some sell and many eat potatoes. We are all glad to form part, somewhere, of this chain. In conclusion I would like to augur success to this marketing venture for the benefit of Maltese potato growers and German consumers.
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