The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry announced today that another 89 investment projects concerning the modernisation of farms will be approved this week under PRORURAL +, a key programme that should be continued due to its multiple impact in the Azores.
 
João Ponte spoke in Horta at the opening of the meeting of PRORURAL + Monitoring Committee. On the occasion, he added that the investment projects that will be approved represent an overall investment of 7.6 million Euros and five million Euros of public expenditure.
 
As for the installation of young farmers, the government official added that 21 projects will also be approved; the total prizes amounts to about 900 thousand Euros.
 
"It is fundamental for the Azores to continue this programme because, in addition to the economic impact in the Region, it is extremely important for our territory for its contribution to the preservation of the environment, for the diversification of rural economy, either in agricultural and forestry activities, and for the contribution to the well-being and development of rural communities," said João Ponte.
 
In his speech, the government official said the commitment rate of PRORURAL + is already over 50% and the rate of execution exceeds 25%. According to him, these figures "clearly evidence the success of the implementation of the programme in the Azores."
 
João Ponte also highlighted the "visible and successful" reduction of the deadlines for the analysis of applications, revealing that there were 500 applications for assessment six months ago and, now, only a "residual number" remains.
 
"Now, the challenge will be to improve our performance in analysing payment requests," the Regional Secretary said, acknowledging that the current decision-making process is "complex" and legislation is sometimes "complex, dispersed and difficult to understand."
 
João Ponte also considered that it is "extremely important" for the Region in the post-2020 period to increase the allocation of PRORURAL + to meet the challenges of agriculture and rural development.