The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry considered the decision of a regional dairy plant to reduce the price of milk paid to producers by one cent, challenging others not to follow this trend because there are no market reasons to justify it.
 
"This is an unexpected, incomprehensible and even unreasonable decision from the Regional Government's standpoint. Currently, there is no instability in the markets and the last international auctions were, on average, positive," said João Ponte. He added that the differential between the prices in force in the Region and those in Europe is so distant, when they have already been so close. Hence, from the Government's standpoint, there are no objective reasons for this decision.
 
In view of this scenario, João Ponte challenged the remaining plants in the Azores not to follow the decline in the price of milk paid to producers and to focus their potentialities in actions aimed at innovating and enhancing the value of their production.
 
The Regional Secretary spoke Sunday at the closing of the 11th Agricultural Days of Praia da Vitória, where he challenged the sector to apply for support under PRORURAL+. With a budget of half a million Euros, these measures finance pilot projects as well as the development of new products, practices, processes and technologies in the agricultural sector. According to him, they aim to "create objective conditions for the emergence of innovative projects that may increase the profitability and competitiveness of the agro-industry."
 
"It is important to increasingly invest in the conquest of new markets and increase exports. Only then, it will it be possible to boost the profitability of the entire dairy sector. This is a challenge to which the industry will have to respond," said João Ponte.
 
In his speech, the government official stressed that the industry must be able to transform the advantages of environmental quality, the Region's high health status, the excellence of genetics, animal welfare and food safety into opportunities, while enhancing its production.
 
The conduction of a study to compare the Azores milk with its European counterparts, commissioned by the Azorean Milk and Dairy Centre (CALL), and the presentation of a new application for European funds to promote regional dairy products are examples of the regional strategy. It is primarily intended to improve the quality of Azorean products and the enhancement of their value in the market.
 
João Ponte also stated that the Regional Government welcomes the first steps that the regional industry is taking towards the production of organic milk, given "its innovative qualities as well as its economic and strategic potential."
 
"Despite the high commitment rates of PRORURAL +, we have just opened a new application phase for the "Organic Farming" measure, with an overall budget of 200 thousand Euros. It will enable the conversion and maintenance of organic farming practices and methods," said the Regional Secretary. According to him, "in a constantly changing world, the regional agricultural sector cannot and should not be distant from what is happening around it."
 
In spite of constant challenges, the path followed by the Region in the last years was "towards development, structural reinforcement and value generation," emphasised João Ponte. In this context, he stressed that milk production registered in 10 years a growth of 20% and the evolution of turnover among the five major dairy plants was over 40% in 10 years. This clearly "demonstrates the importance of agriculture in the Region's productive fabric."
 
According to the Regional Secretary, this reality is the result of the strategy outlined by the Azorean Government to always establish close partnerships with agricultural associations, cooperatives and the industry. In has been "a path towards full dialogue with a transparent exchange of ideas and points of view."