The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and the Environment revealed in Ponta Delgada that the overall final execution rate of PRORURAL was 97.25%. This is "a source of pride" for the Azores as well as for the "key players" in "the success of the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013: farmers, forestry entrepreneurs and industrials" in the archipelago.
 
"They play a major role in the optimisation of one of the main tools for the sustained, sustainable and harmonious progress of the nine islands, the Rural Development Programme of the Azores", said Luís Neto Viveiros. The government official spoke at the public session of the 10th PRORURAL Monitoring Committee, whose execution period ended in 2015 with the implementation of projects.
 
However, the Secretary for Agriculture defended that the meetings of the monitoring committees, "which are made up of multiple public and civic entities, should include moments of reflection and provide valuable contributions to improve the use of funds available to the Region, rendering them more profitable."
 
Mentioning the new programme that will run until 2020, PRORURAL+, Neto Viveiros highlighted that the funds are "significant, but not unlimited." Therefore, "rigour and accuracy are required."
 
"This applies to all of us, whether we are project promoters or actors in their process of analysis and supervision," added the government official.
 
The Regional Secretary stressed that the new model on which the implementation of PRORURAL+ is based provides for the annual opening of several application periods for various measures, whose financial amounts are predefined. According to him, this allows to choose the "best project," that is, "those who contribute the most to agricultural, forestry and industrial development as well as to the progress of communities."
 
In regard to the measures under PRORURAL+, the government official also took the opportunity to publicly clarify that "in the cases when the volume of applications submitted exceed the amount of the financial envelope initially allocated for a tender, it does not mean that the total amount of the programme for this measure is exhausted."
 
In this context, the government official pointed out the example of the LEADER approach, which received a large number of applications in the first tender. Under this measure, "the requests for support that are not considered may be transferred to the second tender," that is, "they are not excluded" as long as "they are approved on the basis of public and duly stipulated criteria."
 
Neto Viveiros also highlighted the existence of various Community and regional programmes in force in the Azores that "are not cumulative, but provide the most appropriate responses to the nature of each project."
 
In his speech, the Regional Secretary stressed the "collaboration of the Azores Agricultural Federation" in the preparation of PRORURAL+ as well as the "increased effort required to the Managing Authority, the Regional Directorate for Rural Development, and the technicians involved in this process."
 
Since March 2015, following approval by the European Commission and still with the implementation of the previous programme in progress, PRORURAL + has received 763 support requests for various measures under this programme, registering a 16% execution rate in just over a year.
 
"These applications demonstrate the confidence that production and processing sector show about the future, despite the external challenges it faces, particularly the milk sector," said Neto Viveiros.