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.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bowen-Jones H, Dewdney JC, Fisher WB (1961) Malta, background for development. Department of Geography, Durham College
Chetcuti D, Buhagiar A, Schembri PJ, Ventura F (1992) The climate of the Maltese Islands: a review. Malta University Press
Central Office of Statistics (COS) Census of Agriculture Report , All years from 1956 ... 1983. Central Office of Statistics, Malta
Cannarozzo NL, Viola FM (2006) Spatial distribution of rainfall trends in Sicily (1921–2000). Phys Chem Earth 31:1201–1211
Crichton N (2001) Methodological issues in clinical research. J Clin Nurs 10:707–715
Environment and Resources Authority (2018) State of the Environment Report, 2018, Malta https://era.org.mt/topic/state-of-the-environment-report-2018-summary-and-chapters/. Accessed 26 Feb 2021
Galdies C (2011) The climate of Malta: statistics, trends and analysis 1951–2010. National Statistics Office, Malta. ISBN: 978-99957-29-19-6
Galdies C (2012) Temperature trends in Malta (central Mediterranean) from 1951 to 2010. Meteorol Atmos Phy 117(3–4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-012-0187-7
Galdies C, Said A, Camilleri L, Caruana M (2016) Climate change trends in Malta and related beliefs, concerns and attitudes toward adaptation among Gozitan farmers. Eur J Agron 74:18–28. ISSN 1161-1301 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2015.11.011. Accessed 26 Feb 2021
Galdies C, Vella K (2019) Future climate change impacts on Malta's agriculture, based on multi-model results from WCRP's CMIP5, in book: climate change-resilient agriculture and agroforestry, 1 edn, Chapter: 8. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75004-0_8
Garcia-Carreras L, Marsham JH, Spracklen DV (2017) Observations of increased cloud cover over irrigated agriculture in an arid environment. J Hydrometeorol 18(8):2161–2172
Granitto Y, Dawson D (2019a) Olive oil production data in europe reveal divergent trends in olive oil times, 27/3/2019
Granitto Y (2019b) Italian production reaches record low in olive oil Times, 29/5/2019
Hartfiel L, Soupir M, Kanwar RS (2020) Malta’s water scarcity challenges: past, present, and future mitigation strategies for sustainable water supplies. Lowa State University, USA, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Meli A (2016) Economic and labour market implications of global environmental change on agriculture and viticulture in malta. J Malta Chamber Sci Xjenza 4(1):35–40
National Statistics Office (2003) Census of Agriculture 2001, NSO, Valletta
National Statistics Office (2012) Census of Agriculture 2010, NSO, Valletta
National Statistics Office (2000–2014) Agriculture and Fisheries, NSO, Valletta
Tuel A, Eltahir EAB (2020) Why Is the Mediterranean a Climate Change Hot Spot? J Clim 33(14):5829–5843
World Bank Group (2020) https://data.worldbank.org/country/malta. Accessed 26 Feb 2021
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Galdies, C., Meli, A. (2022). An Analysis of the Impacts of Climate on the Agricultural Sector in Malta: A Climatological and Agronomic Study. In: Leal Filho, W., Djekic, I., Smetana, S., Kovaleva, M. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Across the Food Supply Chain. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87934-1_23
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87934-1_23
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-87933-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-87934-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)