Government assures positive discrimination of Azorean farmers after the end of the system of milk-production quotas
Azorean farmers will be positively discriminated if the dismantling of the EU system of milk-production quotas is carried out in 2014/2015.
The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry made this assurance at the end of a meeting with the Parliamentary Economics Commission, which analyses the evolution of the Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (PAC), particularly in the milk-production sector.
Given the possible scenario of the dismantling of the quota system, the Azorean Parliament unanimously approved a resolution for the creation of a compensation system for the farmers and considered other grievances such as the integration of 23 thousand tons of milk for internal consumption in the quota system, the reinforcement of the distribution of the quotas, the transfer of milk-production assistance to the POSEI programme, envisioning the continuation of assistance beyond 2014/2015.
According to Noé Rodrigues, “at this moment we have already achieved the preservation of assistance for the small farmers, for milk powder and butter production and we have the assurance of the EU Commission that the granting of milk production prizes will be transferred to the POSEI programme thus improving the legal basis of their attribution.”
At the negotiations, the Regional Government also assured positive discrimination for the Region in the distribution of new quotas and informed that the Government of the Portuguese Republic had guaranteed, for the Azores, a quota that is proportional to the regions total milk production, thus reinforcing the competitiveness of Azorean farmers vis-à-vis those of continental Portugal.