The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry stated that, despite the very positive performance of the Azorean meat sector, the Region is already working, in coordination with all the agents in this sector, to outline an action strategy aimed at the growth of its economic value and the improvement of producers' income.

“If we compare the previous legislative term with the current one, we see that beef production grew 15% and that 65% of the meat produced in the Azores is exported outside the Region,” said João Ponte. According to him, “these are very positive and important indicators from the point of view of production, taking into consideration what they represent for farmers' income and for the local economy.”

The government official spoke on the sidelines of the meeting of the General Assembly of CERCA - Regional Strategy Centre for Azores Meat, which took place at the São Miguel Exhibition Park in the municipality of Ribeira Grande.

João Ponte announced that the entire regional slaughter network is already duly certified by the ISO 22.000 standard on food quality and safety, thus fulfilling a Regional Government's commitment for this legislative term. As he emphasised, it will provide new market opportunities for regional meat, responding to the demands of increasingly demanding consumers in terms of food safety.

"Just yesterday (Thursday), we managed to obtain the certification of Graciosa slaughterhouse, the last infrastructure of the regional slaughter network that still needed to be audited," revealed the Regional Secretary.

Regarding the CERCA meeting, João Ponte pointed out that the Promotional Strategy for the Azores Meat was presented to its members, which, among other aspects, points to a greater focus on the quality of production, the strengthening of organisation and the enhancement of visibility, with view to promoting regional meat and guaranteeing its sustainability.

“The document now made public will be analysed by the members of CERCA, who will define an action plan for the meat sector, given that the regional goal is to double the turnover generated by the Azorean meat sector until 2030,” said João Ponte. In this regard, he added that this sector currently generates an annual turnover of 50 million Euros, without including the POSEI aid.

For the Regional Government, the areas of production and marketing are working in conjunction towards the definition of a future strategy for the meat sector in order to "better sell" the Azores on external markets.