Farmers’ protest blocks access to Walesa

The northern farmers’ movement on Tuesday began a slow march in Valence, Viana do Castelo, where about 100 vehicles are blocking access to the city in a south/north direction towards Spain, a spokesman said.

“We’re in the fast lane, in the San Pedro area. [da Torre]. No one passes in the South-North direction anymore. The idea is to block the roundabout in Wales. Everything will stop in Valence. The idea is to mobilize the whole municipality, the borders, the whole of Walesa,” Fabio Viana from the Northern Farmers Movement told Lusa at 7:20 am.

The initiative, aimed at “raising public and political awareness of the current dramatic panorama of the agricultural sector in the north of Portugal”, involves about 100 vehicles, including 60 cars and 30 tractors.

According to the VPR Viana do Castelo command, the march began at 6:30 am, the vehicles moved between Cerdal and San Pedro da Torre.

Tuesday’s action comes “at the same time as other protests taking place on the Spanish side of the Agrupacion Nacional de Agricultores y Ganaderos del Sector Primário border.”

The protesters present themselves as “a civic movement representing farmers, agricultural entrepreneurs and citizens, with the aim of raising public and political awareness of the current dramatic panorama of the agricultural sector in the north of Portugal.”

In the Book of Claims, which Lusa had access to, the movement calls for “a realignment of the value chain with greater valorization of primary production and clear indication to the consumer of the price paid to the producer and distribution profits,” as well as “increased valorization of endogenous and short-chain products supplies.”

Farmers in the North also want “clear strategies to increase the attractiveness of farming and renew human capital”, namely “increasing the value of the first installation premium for young farmers”.

Among other measures, they also demand “to block imports of food products from outside the Community that have been produced in types of production that are not subject to the same plant health, environmental protection and animal welfare standards as those of the European Union.”

The government has launched an aid package worth more than €400 million aimed at mitigating the impact of drought and strengthening the Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy (PEPAC), ensuring that most measures will come into force this month, with the exception of those dependent on green light” of Brussels.

The European Commission will prepare a proposal to reduce the administrative burden on farmers, which will be discussed by the 27 member states on February 26.