The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and the Environment announced in Ponta Delgada the decision to immediately support regional producers in the purchase of fibrous food for cattle as a result of the prolonged bad weather conditions that are affecting pastures throughout the Region.

 "Being aware of the weather conditions that have, unfortunately, hit all islands of our Region, the Government of the Azores, as it has done on other occasions, has quickly decided to allocate this financial aid, which will be available next week," said Luís Neto Viveiros.

 The Secretary for Agriculture also added that this aid, amounting to 600 thousand Euros, will cover 10,000 tonnes of food, consisting of 50% fibre and 50% straw.

 "The support is set at 6 cents per kilogramme on the islands of São Miguel and Terceira and at 7.5 kilograms on other islands" due to increased transport costs, said Neto Viveiros.

 This is the third time in the current legislative period that the Government of the Azores determines exceptional support for the acquisition of cattle food in order to prevent significant drops in the volume of the region's production as a result of bad weather conditions. This situation has socio-economic effects and a negative impact on animal health and welfare.

 The Regional Secretary spoke on the sidelines of a meeting with the Regional Secretary spoke on the sidelines of a meeting with the Board of the Azores Agricultural Federation. The government official highlighted the work that has been developed in close partnership with the organisation that brings together agricultural associations from all islands for the implementation of regional support measures in the milk sector, as announced in 2015 by the President of the Government, Vasco Cordeiro, at the Strategic Concertation Council.

 In this context, Luís Neto Viveiros stressed the creation of a line of credit to relieve the financial burden of the bank loans already taken out by farms for investments as well as the implementation of a restructuring programme for the dairy sector.

 The government official stressed that this programme, which is being prepared in consultation with the dairy sector, will ensure proper conditions to the producers who wish to retire from this activity. This will contribute to the reparcelling of land, the increase of competitiveness and the rejuvenation of the sector.