The President of the Government and the Board of the Confederation of Portuguese Farmers (CAP) analysed today the situation of the dairy sector and agreed on the fact that the European Union should provide a structural response to the challenges this sector faces.
 
"One cannot go much longer without the European Union breaking the lethargy it seems to be plunged in when dealing with the causes and reasons of the situation of the dairy sector," said Vasco Cordeiro. The audience was also attended by the President of the Azores Agricultural Federation, Jorge Rita.
 
Vasco Cordeiro stressed that the mechanisms implemented by national and regional entities - which, in the case of the Azores, represent a financial aid amounting to five million Euros, more than the European Commission has allocated to the entire country - should be regarded in the perspective of helping to contain the current situation.
 
"The structural solution of this problem lies with the European Union. It concerns the European Union with regard to the opening of market that right now are closed and the creation of measures that may counter widespread decline in the consumption of dairy products,” said the President of the Government.
 
According to Vasco Cordeiro, the measures provided to Azorean farmers, which were implemented in conjunction with the Azores Agricultural Federation, focus on the issues regarding to producers' income, reduction of farm cots and restructuring of the sector.
 
"These measures should not make us deviate from the essential, which is the need to demonstrate that there has to be a European and structural response to this situation in the dairy sector, given that it involves decisions and measures that should be taken by the European Union," said the President of the Government.
 
In the face of the current situation, the Government of the Azores approved in late 2015 a package of specific measures to support the dairy sector amounting to five million Euros. They add up to the investment over 15 million Euros that has been made in the current legislative period in roads, water supply and electrification of farms, among other investments in this area.
 
Recently, the Regional Government also implemented a Restructuring Programme for the Dairy Sector that provides a financial compensation for Azorean farms who wish to definitively abandon milk production.
 
The Government also created a line of credit designated as SAFIAGRI III, under which farmers may benefit from public participation of interest on the loans for agriculture. Moreover, it established AGROCRÉDITO, a line of credit in the amount of about 30 million Euros designed to reinforce the working capital of farms through the subsidisation of interest rates.