The regional government of the Azores counts, in 2022, damage caused by bad weather of the order of 10 million euros in agricultural and forestry roads, the regional secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development announced this Wednesday.
“Almost in all the islands there was damage due to the bad weather that was felt in the region, periodically. Accounted for by the Board [regional] of Forest Resources and by the IROA [Instituto Regional de Ordenamento Agrário]it is a loss that amounts, in all the islands, to about 10 million euros”, said the head of the Agriculture portfolio in the Azores, António Ventura.
The official was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a visit to a farm road in the Agualva parish on Terceira Island, which was blocked due to heavy rains in early August.
According to António Ventura, the scenario was repeated on other islands and at other times of the year, with various interventions being carried out to regularize access to farms.
We cannot go to everything immediately, but we are doing, intervening, in what is a priority, without forgetting the interventions that have to be made”, he pointed out.
The official said that the IROA has works underway with an investment of “about 5 million euros”, in “45 projects that request community funds” to improve accessibility, electrification and water supply.
The Azorean government decided to create, in 2023, an “operational intervention picket” on Terceira Island, to respond, 24 hours a day, to the maintenance needs of agricultural roads, water networks and electricity networks.
In São Miguel, in 2021, we will create a picket, which is always operational and always ready to intervene in what are water spills, obstruction of rural roads and power cuts”, explained António Ventura.
After São Miguel and Terceira, the two most populated islands of the archipelago, the Regional Government intends to create a picket on the island of Faial and expand the service to other islands, “according to capabilities”, in terms of “economic resources” and technical resources ” .
Bad weather also caused damage to crops, which led the Azorean government to create extraordinary support for the deficits in fruit and vegetable production, already published in the Official Gazette.
The support, corresponding to “an amount of 75% of the damages verified in crop production”, is attributed to damages recorded in three periods: April 1 and 2, April 8 to 10 (storm Evelyn) and 15 th of May .
Asked about the creation of agricultural insurance to respond to this type of situation, António Ventura said that “until the end of the year” an ordinance should be published to expand the coverage of agricultural insurance in the region.
“The ordinance covers a set of situations that until now it did not cover, the issue of salinity, for example. It will allow the farmer to do his planning, his guidance, regardless of the good or bad will of whoever is in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture”, he said.
The official pointed out, however, that this decree does not depend only on the Regional Government, but on the opinions of the Government of the Republic and the Superintendency of Insurance and Pension Funds.
Source: Observadora
