The Regional Director for Agriculture stated in Vila do Porto that the recognition from Santa Maria Melon as a PGI product (Protected Geographical Identification) "is not a finishing line but a starting point," which brings "increased responsibility."

Fernando Sousa stressed that this is a "new phase" for producers, not only in terms of "the production criteria they will have to comply with," but also in terms of "commercialisation and the search of markets for this product." For the Regional Government, this also represents a new phase in the "provision of means, within its powers, giving farmers the means and the knowledge to seize this opportunity.

The Regional Director spoke Monday at the Seminar on Integrated Production, organised in partnership with AgroMarienseCoop, which gathered about one hundred farms the cooperative's facilities. According to him, this initiative is one these contributions."

"Today, the challenges of our agricultural sector concern our position in markets that value quality," Fernando Sousa said, adding that "this is why the Regional Government continues to make to investment heavily in the training of farmers."

"This is the path we have set and that we will continue to follow towards an increasingly sustained agriculture in the Region, based on knowledge, which will bring higher economic return to farmers," said Fernando Sousa. In this regard, the government official pointed out the symbolism in the delivery of training certificates to 60 Santa Maria farmers, who participated in the courses held in 2014.

Currently, a training course on pastures and fodder for 16 farmers is being held on the island of Santa Maria. It will be followed by training courses on good practices in cattle, goat and sheep husbandry as well as by a training course on farm management.

These modules are part of the Young Farmers Course, which provides access to the incentives available under PRORURAL + for the first installation of young farmers.

Integrated production is an agricultural system for the production of food and other high quality food products. It is based on the rational management of natural resources and favours the use of natural regulatory mechanisms instead of production factors, thereby contributing to the practice of sustainable agriculture.