The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry, João Ponte, announced today the opening of an agricultural service station in the village of Ginetes on São Miguel Island in early 2018. This is an important service of proximity intended to support agricultural activities.
 
"We intend to extend the existing regional network by providing services to farmers in their villages, preventing them from travelling several kilometres and losing a lot of time to solve administrative problems," said João Ponte. He spoke after a meeting with the Board of Agro Ginetes in the municipality of Ponta Delgada.
 
Currently, there are about forty agricultural service stations in the archipelago. The station located in Fontinhas in the municipality of Praia da Vitória, Terceira Island, was the last to be open.
 
João Ponte stated the Ginetes agricultural service station will operate at the Agro Ginetes Cooperative building, two days a week. It is expected to start operating in January.
 
In a service station, agricultural producers may receive technical support to carry out administrative tasks to which they are legally obliged, such as movement records (purchase, sale, slaughter, birth and death of animals) and the issuance of animal transport guides.
 
In addition, they will have the possibility to submit all kinds of applications, for example, to the Support Programme for Agricultural and Forest Modernisation (PROAMAF), create the identification of beneficiaries, update land parcels and issue passports for animals.