A group of farmers will demonstrate on October 4 at the Agricultural Fair scheduled for the parish of Piedade because they feel abandoned by the political authorities and “want better conditions for farming.”
The Regional Secretary for Agriculture, António Ventura, met with the Pico Island Farmers’ Association board but could not calm tempers.
Joel Silva, a spokesman for the civic movement organizing the demonstration, told Antena 1 Açores that farmers “are tired of measures that don’t benefit their sector and demand urgent answers to some of their biggest concerns. ”
“The lack of motivation and abandonment of agriculture is serious and jeopardizes the future of our region. The lack of willingness to listen to and integrate farmers is notorious. We don’t know what our future will look like. The new agricultural policies are saturated with what is coming down the pike. First and foremost, we want to be able to work and guarantee a future. Not chasing subsidies, but our end product. We’re fed up with the indifference and the way they treat us,” Joel Silva told public radio in the region.
According to the civic movement’s spokesman, farmers are “confronted every day with deplorable conditions of access to pastures and farms.”
He also says that they have been waiting for more water supply stations for years, “the current number is insufficient and some are not active due to lack of maintenance.” The farmers demand that their income be protected and measures be taken to deal with the successive increases in interest rates on the price of fuel and production tractors.

in Correio dos Açores, Natalino Viveiros-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.