The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and the Environment revealed in Ponta Delgada that 1,000 farms and companies in the regional agro-industrial sector may benefit from the incentives for modernisation granted under PRORURAL+ until 2020.

"In order to promote the competitiveness of the agricultural and forestry sector, the Government allocated 44% of the global budget of the support programme to invest in  the modernisation and restructuring of about 1,000 farms and processing and marketing companies," said Luís Neto Viveiros at a press conference for the presentation of PRORURAL +.

The Regional Secretary underlined that the Rural Development Programme of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, approved by the European Commission last Friday, "was the culmination of a long and intense period of negotiations that started on May 4, 2014."

Luís Neto Viveiros noted that the regional proposal, like POSEI, "was the subject of an extensive consultation process," adding that PRORURAL + "was created with the aim of supporting farmers as well as the industry and marketing sectors to successfully meet the challenges" the Azores are facing.

"PRORURAL + reflects the priorities set by the Regional Government regarding the use of 340 million Euros in public funds available until 2020, of which 295 million Euros are directly allocated from the EU budget and the remaining 45 million Euros are supported by the regional budget" added the government official.

In this regard, the government official stressed that "the Rural Development Programme for the next programming period features a series of diversified and complementary support measures that will contribute to an integrated approach to agriculture and rural development."

A total of 127 million Euros were allocated under PRORURAL+ for Investments in Infrastructures - Modernisation of Farms, Support to Processing and Marketing, Agricultural and Forest Road, Water Supply and Electrification of Farms.

The programme provides a sum of 70 million Euros that will be allocated to areas affected by natural constraints or other specific constraints, while 62 million Euros will be granted to the Agri-environment and Climate measure.

Of the total amount of funds allocated to this programme, 22 million Euros will be directed to local development under the LEADER projects and 17 million Euros to investments in the development of forest areas and the improvement of their sustainability.

Luís Neto Viveiros also pointed out that co-financing rates for investments in farms [in the Azores] are between 50 and 75% in the Community Framework 2014-2020, while the figures are set at 30-50% in Mainland Portugal."

The Regional Secretary also noted the "approval of a measure specifically designed to support the development, processing and marketing of regional agricultural products, including dairy products; the latter were awarded 30 million Euros."

 With this measure, the Government of the Azores, as announced, will improve regional productions and strengthen the sustainability of the Region's business fabric.

"It allows the investments made in the archipelago to be supported up to 75% of the eligible expenditure and those carried out by companies headquartered in the Region in other parts of the country will benefit from funding rates applied by Brussels to the respective area of implementation," added the government official.

Luís Neto Viveiros added that this measure will allow the Region to complete the network of slaughter houses, with the awarding of the contract works for the construction of slaughter houses on Faial and Graciosa this year as well as with the interventions to improve existing infrastructures on other islands.

The modernisation of agricultural production and processing structures, land planning and restructuring, the transfer of knowledge and innovation and the strengthening of agricultural production with growth potential in local markets and areas of diversification, such as vegetables, wine and fruit, are some of the goals underpinning the establishment of PRORURAL+.

In addition to these purposes, the programme has set other important goals: creation of labelling systems to identify the origin of products on the market, conservation and enhancement of production systems with added value, adaptation to climate change, risk management and preservation, environmental protection and efficient use of the available resources.