The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forests assured in Ponta Delgada that the Azores will continue to fight, to the limits of their capabilities, for the increase of financial allocations under the next Community Support Network to promote the competitiveness of agriculture, reduce additional costs and, above all, to ensure the sustainability of agricultural activity in the archipelago.
 
"As for POSEI, we would be satisfied with a 12% increase that is, another eight million Euros. This is a fundamental financial tool in terms of ensuring the competitiveness of the sector," said João Ponte. He spoke after a meeting with MEP Sofia Ribeiro to discuss the future of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2020.
 
Moreover, João Ponte considered that it is necessary to continue guaranteeing support to compensate Azorean farmers for the additional costs of agriculture in an outermost region, far from markets, where we must have the capacity to respond to an increase of production and the future sustainability of the sector.
 
Recognising that this is a difficult battle, especially due to "Brexit," João Ponte defended that, in any case, the situation of outermost region and the increase in production in recent years give good reasons for the Azores to assert their point of view with EU institutions and the National Government.
 
According to João Ponte, the CAP should reflect Europe's diverse agro-climatic realities, particularly those of outermost regions.
 
Regarding the modernisation of the agricultural sector in the Region, the government official emphasised that the PRORURAL + programme has been essential. However, that "there is still a lot to do increase the competitiveness of farms, either by improving infrastructures or by modernising farms."
 
João Ponte also highlighted the good implementation of PRORURAL + in the Azores, which registers a commitment rate of 64% and an execution rate of 32%.
 
For the Regional Secretary, there is still a considerable interest in the modernisation of farms. In this regard, he pointed out the last application procedure under PRORURAL+ in which the applications submitted exceeded almost five times the available funding.
 
The Secretary for Agriculture also stated that the hearing process of the partners of the Regional Council of Agriculture is being concluded. It has provided important contributions to the proposal to be submitted by the Autonomous Region of the Azores regarding the future CAP.
 
João Ponte said he plans to meet with the Minister of Agriculture very soon to hand over the document.
 
The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry considered that the meeting with MEP Sofia Ribeiro was important and timely so that all players involved in the process could be in line with the Region's position in the area of agriculture.