An Analysis of the Impacts of Climate on the Agricultural Sector in Malta: A Climatological and Agronomic Study

Abstract

Research shows that southern European countries are expected to experience a 10% reduction in their agricultural productivity as a result of climate change. This study shows how, on the basis of an analysis of the latest climatological observations to date, 54% of Malta's total utilisable agricultural area, could in effect be rendered economically unsustainable due to a fall in productivity of principal crop types. In fact, the period 1946–2020 shows an increased mean annual air temperature anomaly of + 0.17 °C per decade. This is accompanied by a corresponding reduction of –6 mm per decade in the total yearly precipitation for the same time period. This study reveals how this climate period was accompanied by a significant decrease in revenues from grape, olives and wine production, also reflected by a 69% decline in grape production and 22% fall in wheat production, amongst other crops. The observed reduced sustainability of local agricultural productivity is adversely affecting the livelihoods of farmers that are dependent on this already threatened economic sector in Malta.