WATCH | Betrayed Żurrieq farmers in heartfelt appeal to save land

Two farmers facing eviction from agricultural land their families have tilled for generations have called on politicians to show some “guts and integrity.”

Robert Bondin Carter and Annalisa Schembri decry government’s decision to terminate their lease so that a road required by a private developer could be built.

They speak to MaltaToday after Lands Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi refused to acknowledge their problems when doorstepped outside Parliament last week.

Before sitting down on a bale of hay in the middle of the field situated in an area known as Tal-Bebbux, Robert gives us a quick tour of the property. His side of the field is fully organic and includes trees, which, he points out, were ironically planted using government afforestation subsidies.

The other half of the field that Annalisa tills contains wheat, which had grown far too short for this time of year. “Climate change, rising temperatures, and a lack of rain,” she tells me, are just some of the challenges farmers have to face. “Now, they must deal with persecution as well,” she adds.

It’s a sunny afternoon and Robert and Annalisa explain what the field means to them. The pair have been childhood friends and would come to the field with their fathers. Annalisa recounts memories of herself playing barefoot in the grass, while Robert helped his father with general works around the field.

As they grew older, despite taking on studies in other sectors, they were both drawn to continue their fathers’ work despite all its hardship. For them, the field in question is not just a plot of land, it’s an extension of themselves and part of their identity.

The field in the area known as Tal-Bebbux in Zurrieq (Photo by James Bianchi/MediaToday)

Then one day, Robert explains, he found a piece of paper stuck to his side of the land telling him to vacate the area. ‘This must be some mistake,’ he thought. But when he went to the Lands Authority, Robert was greeted by a lawyer who bluntly told him that the land is now in the development zone and is not his.

To add salt to the wound, a few months later he found new papers around the field’s perimeter. This time they were for a zoning application that sought permission for the construction of a series of buildings and a new road running through the fields.

The application in question was filed in 2022 on behalf of Francis Spiteri, who owns Tal-Karmnu Construction Company. He owns a small piece of land next to the fields in question and it already abuts on two roads.

Robert and Annalisa were dumbfounded and disgusted by the zoning application for which the Lands Authority has since given its consent.

Annalisa says she is glad her father didn’t live to see the political party he supported all his life take away the land that put food on his family’s table.

She says that she had discussed the possibility of government removing him from its land multiple times, but he had always replied: “Government is on the farmers’ side.”

A few days before the interview, MaltaToday had doorstepped the lands minister on the issue, yet he refrained from mentioning the farmers and insisted the land will remain public. He said the land will be “preserved” in case of a social project that benefits the Żurrieq community. He also attempted to shift the blame on the 2006 change in local plans that took place 19 years ago.

Robert and Annalisa did not buy Zrinzo Azzopardi’s explanation.

“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Robert tells me. “If the minister’s hands are tied, then who’s governing this country?” Annalisa asks.

Robert contrasts this seizure of agricultural land with international concerns around food security. “We are blessed with this land that we’re tilling and we want to destroy it to appease someone else,” he says.

Robert also takes issue with the vague term ‘social use; that Zrinzo Azzopardi used to justify development on the field. “Even a toilet has a social use,” he jokes.

“What is the social use that can derive from a private applicant?” he asks. Robert also pokes fun at a government promise that 750sq.m of its 7,000sq.m of agricultural land will be turned into an open space. “Prosit ministru,” he says sarcastically.

He clarifies that the pair have no interest in personally attacking Zrinzo Azzopardi, “but if he is responsible for the Lands Authority and it gave the go-ahead for this insulting and abusive application… he is complicit.”

Annalisa interjects. The community is “sacred” for her, noting her involvement with a number of NGOs. She too finds it insulting that the minister should hide “behind social use” to justify the landgrab.

Annalisa invites Zrinzo Azzopardi to come to the field so that he can truly see and understand what risks being lost to development.

She appeals to politicians to “do the right thing”. “I don’t have to tell them what that is but just in case: Keep this land agricultural.”

Annalisa also appeals to the public to understand the realities going on in the country such as the constant chipping away of agricultural land.

Robert on the other hand pleads for politicians to show “guts and integrity”. He thanks Moviment Graffitti for helping the pair fight their cause.

MaltaToday also reached out to the Agriculture Ministry to ask if it believes that the land’s change of use is justified and whether it will intervene to aid the farmers. A spokesperson said that the “ministry is always in favour of preserving land which is designated for agricultural purposes”.

Yet, the ministry also invoked the 2006 local plan changes. “Should the need arise, the ministry, as always, will be available to provide any assistance possible to the farmers involved,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, as the sun starts to set and a gentle breeze brushes against the wheat, Robert and Annalisa hope the government will see the light of day.