The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry, João Ponte, stated today that traditional agricultural production in the Azores is growing fast as evidenced by official indicators, namely the submission of farmers’ applications for support under the POSEI programme.
 
“The Regional Government's official and credible indicators evidence traditional productions, such as pineapple, bananas and vegetables, have registered a very significant growth," said João Ponte. These figures contradict the data released today by the media pointing out the production of the main regional crops has fallen sharply.
 
For João Ponte, this information distorts reality and negatively affects the positive image of the agricultural sector.
 
The government official acknowledged that 2018 was an atypical year, largely due to the drought that hit the Azores, causing damage to several crops, with higher incidence on potatoes and forage maize. Nevertheless, the path towards agricultural production, especially in the area of agricultural diversification, has been growing and productions have increased.
 
“If we consider the last 4 years, agricultural diversification areas have grown by 38%,” João Ponte said, adding that banana production has grown by 66% over the last two years.
 
Regarding tea and pineapple, production areas have remained stable over the past three years, while beet and tobacco crops have ceased; the first in 2017 and the second in 2018.
 
In the case of forage maize, and according to the data reported in the POSEI programme, the production area stands at 13 thousand hectares with an actual production ranging between 50 and 60 tonnes per hectare.
 
Additionally, the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry stressed that the agricultural area in the Azores has remained unchanged in recent years, i.e., the abandonment of arable land has not been registered.