Malta’s Planning Authority recently approved a smaller snail farm covering 1,481sqm.
As a local, I have fond memories of venturing out into Malta’s countryside with my grandparents after a storm, in search of snails. We’d each collect bags of them, hauling them back home in great nets, in anticipation of my grandmother’s famous ikla bebbux (snails’ meal).
While this may sound a little strange (depending on where you’re from), Malta is among several countries that consider snails a delectable food option, so much so that GuideMeMalta even went in search of the best bebbux served in restaurants on the island some time ago.
Still, searching for snails in the countryside may not be the most sustainable way of going about it, and it seems that it’s now set to change, thanks to not one, but two proposed snail farms on the island!
Did you say snail farm?
Yup! A proposal for a huge 6,000sqm snail farm has just been submitted, which will be housed within 4.4m-high greenhouses along Triq tal-Balal and Triq A. Murray in Naxxar. And this is actually the second such farm being proposed, with Malta’s Planning Authority recently approving a smaller snail farm covering 1,481sqm just 100m away, in the Xwieki area between Iklin and Naxxar.
That’s news to us…
Interestingly, snail farming is encouraged by Malta’s National Agricultural Policy, counted among new developments in food production sectors – including hydroponics, aquaponics, vermiculture and insect protein farms – which are viewed favourably!
How does it work?
Bred within specialised pans containing soil and grass, the snails’ eggs hatch around September, growing to harvesting age by the following May. By then, they each weigh about 10 grams.
Snail stats
Stats show that up until 2014, only 15 per cent of a whopping 450,000 tons of snails consumed annually came from breeding farms. The main countries to import them are China, France, Italy, Belgium and Greece, so the Maltese are certainly not alone in their love of bebbux!