Portugal has not been exemplary in the implementation of European funds – Business
“Agriculture has gone through a notable phase in recent years, however it is at a time of great challenges, a challenging framework for the coming years”, said Pedro Barreto, executive director of Banco BPI during the presentation of the 11th edition of the National Prize Agriculture 2022, an initiative by Correio da Manhã and Jornal de Negócios in partnership with BPI, sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development and supported by PwC.
Among the “major concerns” listed by Pedro Barreto is the rise in the prices of production factors, such as fertilizers, energy or water, which affects not only agriculture, but also various sectors of the Portuguese economy.
One of the main development axes for the coming years is based on a set of funds available in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), in the Rural Development Programme, in Portugal 2030 or in the Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy (PEPAC). But Pedro Barreto underlined that, “in recent years, Portugal has not been exemplary in its ability to take advantage of these funds”.
He recalled that, in the case of PT2020, Portugal had around 25 billion euros available, but, within the foreseen period, it was only able to invest 18 million. For the next seven years, Portugal will have twice as much European funds at its disposal, around 50 million euros. “It is a great challenge for the country at a time when we are going through several constraints and one of them is clearly the issue of manpower”, said Pedro Barreto.
Nine thousand applications
“If agriculture does not have this ability to transform, innovate and keep up with all that is creativity, dynamism, and that technology already allows to develop in the various sectors such as agro-industry, livestock and forestry, we know that we will not be able to have the results we all aspire to”, considered Ana Dias, financial manager at Cofina.
He recalled that in these ten years the National Agriculture Award had close to 9 thousand applications and 150 prizes awarded and in 2021 the record was won with 1,321 applications. “This is important, not only does it have more visibility, it also gives inspiration to do more and better in Portugal”, concluded Ana Dias.