After a slow march and blocking of avenues in the center of Vila Real, farmers began to demobilize at 14:00 and approved a proposal containing eight demands and emphasizing a ban on selling products below cost.
On foot, on tractors or in vans, farmers from Trás os Montes gathered this Wednesday in Vila Real and walked slowly for about three kilometers between the area of the 13th Infantry Regiment (RI13) and the municipal square where the protest took place. convened by the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA), ended.
Near the municipal square, they blocked avenues 1. de Mayo and Carvalho Araujo, the main arteries of the city of Vila Real.
“We are advocating for a very specific measure to ban below-cost sales across the entire sector and until this is established this problem will not be solved. There is one very important thing: farmers do not set prices. The price is set by the industry or large distributors, and farmers have no chance: they either sell or store the food at home,” said Pedro Santos, CNA leader.
The official said that this Wednesday’s protest is already directed against the next government, which will be elected on March 10.
“Farmers are here to fight for better living conditions. We need higher prices for produce and a different Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that values us and protects family farming,” he stressed.
And, he reiterated, “the issue of assessing family farming, small and medium-sized farmers and, above all, their income is very important.”
“Help is important, but if the prices are not fair, no help will help us,” Pedro Santos emphasized.
He added that, given the organization of the market, “for every 100 euros that consumers pay, farmers only keep 20, and it is with these 20 that they have to pay for everything: fuel, feed or fertilizer.”
“And then, in the end, they still have to put food on the table. If we don’t change the structure of the market, this problem will never be solved,” he stressed.
A proposal with eight measures will be sent to the government and all parties, and, in addition to fair prices for products, they also demand compliance with the wasteland law, fair PAC with help only for those who produce, compliance with the wasteland law. family farming and compensation to farmers for damage caused by wild animals such as wild boars.
Other measures include the right to access land, the return of the Casa do Douro to Douro winegrowers, and the creation of a unified Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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