Farmers from the Center continue to protest despite government support

Farmers in the country’s central region will continue their protest on Thursday, blocking roads to farm machinery despite support measures announced on Wednesday, distrusting the government’s intentions and criticizing industry associations.

“These measures now announced by the government are just a letter of good intentions for us. This is the government that is in power and out of office, we must understand that most of these measures will be implemented or will be reviewed by the next government. “, Ricardo Estrela, representative of the civil movement Agricultores de Portugal in the Beiras region, told Lusa.

“But we have everything that raises suspicions, because the promises that were made over the years were not fulfilled. There was a delay in measures, we are talking about support for production, which should have been paid in 2023, was paid in 2024 year and was paid in 2024. with cuts without announcement, which shows complete disrespect for the agricultural sector,” emphasized Ricardo Estrela.

A sheep producer in Castelo Branco district also criticized organizations and associations representing the agricultural sector, stressing that they are “discredited” among farmers.

Regarding the protest planned for the early hours of Thursday at several places within the country, he felt that it would affect several agricultural sectors and demonstrate that farmers are tired of “unsustainable policies” over the years and successive promises not being fulfilled.

“What we have to do is take protest measures, which will obviously involve blocking some roads. We will block one or another access to the country, but others will remain open, we will create some inconvenience, we will force people to go through routes that are less common, with worse access and worse roads,” said a farmer from the Castelo Branco region.

Without revealing the main details of the protest planned in the Beiras area, Ricardo Estrela said that the concentration of agricultural machines and tractors will be near the exit of Highway 25 (A25), connecting Aveiro and Vilar Formosa, in a place known as Alto de Leomil ​​(Almeida municipality, Guarda district), where there is one of the connections with the historical village of Castelo Mendo, about 15 kilometers from the border.

The concentration is expected to begin at 4.30am on Thursday, with a possible closure of the A25 motorway at that location, following the example of other protests announced by the country, with road closures and access to the borders with Spain.

Ricardo Estrela, administrator of the agricultural society and private estate considered the country’s largest, noted, however, that the protest of the Portuguese Farmers movement differs from demonstrations that have taken place in France and other European countries: because it does not intend to use violence.

“If it had ended in violence, it would have meant we had lost control of the situation,” he said. On the other hand, the requirements of Portuguese farmers also differ from those of their French counterparts, with one exception, the European rules imposed on farmers from EU member states to guarantee product quality not respected by external supplying countries. .of the European space, which they accuse of unfair competition.

“We stand in solidarity with France and experience first-hand the problems that French farmers experience. But our problems are much more primary and much deeper,” the farmer said.

The differences for French and German farmers can also be seen, for example, in the quality of existing agricultural machinery: “Anyone who watches our protest and checks the pictures of French tractors on television will immediately see the difference. Here tractors are from 30 years old, because people often don’t have the means to renew them,” illustrated Ricardo Estrela.