Early Strawberries For London From Malta

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31061, 17 May 1966, Page 5

Early Strawberries For London From Malta

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter) VALETTA. An investment of £50,000, know-how, and the enthusiasm of three Englishmen are turning ten acres of typically Maltese farmland into a nursery garden producing out-of-season fruit, flowers and vegetables for the English, Continental and North African markets.

Strawberries grown at the Sun Cross Nursery, as the project is called, passed their first test at a banquet given in honour of the Lord Mayor of London by the Inns of Court Regiment of the City of London Yeomanry. More are on the way to England. Strawberries, water melons, French beans and gladioli are ripening and blossoming

under 18 polythene-covered, 204 ft long nissen-type structures built by local labour at the farm. By the time the nursery is in full production, in about two years’ time, there will be 144 of these structures, together with cold storage facilities, packing and sorting sheds, offices, a reservoir, and the managing director’s residence on the farm. The polythene structures were designed by the farm’s managing director, Mr T. H. Bannister, a horticulturist born at Romford, Essex. Mr Bannister has been away from England for 11 years, eight of which he spent as a horticulturist with the Colonial Service in Kenya. It was while he was employed there that he started to produce strawberries and pineapples for export to Britain. Special Glasshouses He claims that his arcshaped structures cost just

one fifth of what he would spend on a conventional glasshouse. The polythene is stretched around a skeleton framework with wires crisscrossed behind to take the strain of wind and rain. They have withstood 60 m.p.h. gales with flying colours. During the hot season, the polythene is replaced by shading cloth. In this way, even in temperatures of over 90 degrees, the normal temperatures in Malta in July and August, green vegetables can be grown. Mr Bannister believes that it is possible to grow fruit and vegetables in Malta all the year round. When'the nursery is in full production, it. is expected to export fruit and vegetables to the value of £lOO,OOO a year. Already, just six months after the venture started, they canthey are receiving. not cope with all the orders