Around 150 tractors, vans and cars, followed by hundreds of farmers on foot, roam the streets of Vila Real this Wednesday, fighting to pay a fair price for their produce.
“We are very mobilized in this fight,” Daniel Serraleiro from the National Wasteland Federation (BALADI), a member of the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA), told Lusa.
Protesters gathered in Vila Real this morning from Chavez, Boticas, Montalegre, Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Vila Real, Mesão Frio, Castro de Aire and Amarante.
On tractors, large or small, vans or cars, they carry banners and posters with the inscription: “Farmers do not depend on subsidies! They work for themselves and for all of you”, “We urgently demand reprogramming of PEPAC”, “Without the farmer and livestock farming there is no future”, “Heartless government contributes to desertification”, “Let my children be farmers”.
“These farmers demand fair prices for their produce. Farmers are always the most affected in the entire chain. Another battle we are concerned about is vacant lot theft. Every year, more and more wasteland becomes inaccessible for grazing, and this means that farmers will begin to abandon the interior,” stressed Daniel Serraleiro.
The demonstration began in the area of the Santa Iria cemetery and will continue along Aureliano Barrigas Avenue, 1. de Mayo to the Municipal Square.
Rubens Aguiar came from Vila Pouca de Aguiar to set the pace with a bell, which is usually hung on cows.
Idalina Márquez, also from Vila Pouca, is a cow producer and highlights the growing costs on the farm, as well as the selling price of meat, which has not increased for several years, saying that it is impossible to sustain this activity.
Domingos Gonçalves traveled about 100 kilometers from Cabril in Montalegre to Vila Real to protest the injustice done to the highlanders.
He breeds goats and cows. His main complaints are about shrinking vacant lots, which could jeopardize his survival.
Vítor Herdeiro, Douro’s winemaker, demands fair prices when selling barrels of wine, noting that producers receive 800 euros for a barrel of port and 200 and 300 euros for a barrel of consumer wine.
“It is impossible to maintain viticulture in the demarcated Douro region. Either they will start paying fair prices for their products, or we will not be able to afford to continue producing wine in this region,” he emphasized.
This winemaker and leader of the association also highlighted the problem of Casa do Douro, whose diploma, reinstating the establishment as a public association with mandatory registration, is subject to promulgation by the President of the Republic.
“So that elections can be held and then small and medium-sized farmers have the right to vote in the Douro,” he emphasized.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.